Fig. 1

Examples of lumbar vertebral endplates lesions (LEPLs) on T2-weighted sagittal MRI scans in three grades. A A 33-year-old male with smooth ten lumbar endplates instead of LEPLs, was assigned to the non-LEPLs group and graded to Grade I. B A 40-year-old male with four notched endplates involving L1-2 and L2-3 disc both cranial and caudal endplates and with the notched occur in L3-4 caudal endplate, was designated as mild-LEPLs and graded to Grade III. C A 51-year-old female, with a sagittal MR image of a lumbar spine with two Schmorl’s nodes which were observed at the caudal endplate of the L3-4 disc and the cranial endplate of the L4-5 disc, two fracture endplates were found at the caudal endplate of the T12-L1 and L2-3 disc, besides two wavy endplates were found at the caudal endplate of the L1-2 and L2-3 disc, was evaluated as severe-LEPLs and graded as Grade III