Degenerative diseases of the spine

Abstract

Degenerative disease of the spine, in particular low back pain (LBP), is one of the most common causes of work disability. Back pain is a pervasive problem that affects twothirds of adults at some time in their lives. Most often, back pain is benign and self-limited. However, it is occasionally the presenting symptom of systemic diseases such as cancer or infection. Some causes of back pain, especially those with neurologic symptoms, are surgically treatable. Thus, the major diagnostic task is to distinguish the 95% of patients with simple back pain from the 5% with serious underlying diseases or neurologic impairments. In this article, an overview of the spectrum of degenerative disease of the spine is provided. Special emphasis is directed to the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appearance of degenerative spine disorders, since MRI has become the standard of reference regarding the evaluation of patients with back pain with or without neurological deficits [1, 2]. © 2005 Springer-Verlag Italia.