Hanne B. Albert

The aim of this study was via PET imaging to reveal if any highly metabolic processes were occurring in Modic changes type 1 and/or in the adjacent discs. Modic changes (MC) are signal changes in the vertebral endplate and body visualised by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MC are strongly associated with low back pain (LBP). MC type 1 appear to be inflammation on MRI, and histological and biochemical findings make it highly likely that an inflammation is present. Though MC is painful no known treatment is available, and it is unknown which entities affect the progress or regress of MC. The changes observed on MRI are slow and take months to develop, but faster changes in the metabolism might provide a platform for monitoring patients. Patients, methods: Patients from The Back Centre Funen, with low back pain in the area of L1 to S1, MC type 1 in L1 to L5, and a previous herniated lumbar disc. All patients had a PET scan using FDG (¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose) as tracer. Results: Included in the study were 11 patients, 4 women and 7 men, mean age 48.1 year (range 20–65). All MC were situated in the vertebrae both above and below the previously herniated disc/discs. Ten patients had MC at 1 level, and 1 had MC at 2 levels. The affected levels were 1 at L2/L3, 6 at L4 /L5, and 5 at L5/S1. All had a previous disc herniation and MC larger than 4 mm in diameter. Technically satisfactory PET scans were obtained. However, PET imaging showed no increases in metabolism in any vertebra or disc of any patient. Conclusion: Modic type 1 changes do not reveal themselves by showing increased metabolism with ordinary FDG PET imaging. PET tracers illuminating inflammation are being developed and hopefully may become more successful.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical effect of antibiotic treatment in a cohort of patients with low-back pain (LBP) and Modic changes Type 1 (bone oedema) following a lumbar herniated disc.Design: This was a prospective uncontrolled trial of 32 LBP patients who had Modic changes and were treated withAmoxicillin-clavulanate(500 mg/125 mg) 3 × day for 90 days. All patients had previously participated in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) that investigated active conservative treatment for a lumbar herniated disc (n = 166). All patients in that RCT who had Modic changes and LBP at 14 months follow-up (n = 37) were invited to participate in this subsequent antibiotic trial but five did not meet the inclusion criteria.Results: 29 patients completed the treatment, as three patients dropped out due to severe diarrhoea. At the end of treatment and at long-term follow-up (mean 10.8 months) there was both clinically important and statistically significant (p⩽0.001) improvement in all outcome measures: LBP intensity, number of days with pain, disease-specific and patient-specific function, and global perceived effect.Conclusions: In this uncontrolled trial, the clinical effect of antibiotic treatment was large in a group of patients with Modic changes suffering from persistent LBP following a disc herniation. These results provide tentative support for a hypothesis that bacterial infection may play a role in LBP with Modic changes and indicate the need for randomised controlled trials to test this hypothesis.

Only a small proportion (20%) of patients with LBP can be diagnosed based on a patho-anatomical entity. Therefore, the identification of relevant subgroups, preferably on a patoanatomical basis, is strongly needed. Modic changes have been described by several authors as being closely linked with LBP. The aims of this study were to describe the prevalence of Modic changes, their development as well as their association to LBP, previous disc contour, and surgery in patients with previous severe sciatica. This is a longitudinal cohort study where the patients were recruited from an RCT comparing two active conservative treatments, the 181 patients, who at baseline had radicular pain in or below the knee; all underwent a physical examination and MRI. MRI’s, pain history and physical examination of 166 patients were obtained at follow-up 14 months later. The prevalence of Modic changes type 1 increased from 9% at baseline to 29% at follow-up. At that time, a strong association between Modic changes and non-specific LBP was noted. Apparently, Modic changes type 1 was more strongly associated with non-specific lumbar pain than Modic changes type 2. The development of new Modic changes was closely related to the level of a previous disc herniation. A lumbar disc herniation is a strong risk factor for developing Modic changes (especially type 1) during the following year. Furthermore, Modic changes are strongly associated with LBP.