MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. It
is one of the most important methods of diagnosing the cause of back
pain. With MRI scan you can get very well-defined images of bones and
soft tissues. The images provided by MRI scan are similar to those of CT
scan. The images of MRI scan provide serial slices through the lumber
spine or any other area of interest. These involve magnetism to obtain
the images instead of X-rays. MRI is useful in detecting annular tears,
disc fragments and non-spinal causes of back pain including infection
and cancer.
However, sometimes, determining
treatment through MRI images of disc abnormalities has resulted in
unnecessary surgeries as many people have protruding vertebral discs and
still have no back pain. Therefore, the abnormalities revealed by MRI
scan are not always the right reason for the need of surgery. MRIs are
less effective than X-rays in identifying the bone problems and are more
expensive too.
CT scans are also useful in providing detailed and
excellent bone and tissue information. CT stands for Computerized
Tomography. In CT scan, a beam of thin X-rays is rotated around the
affected area. The computer is able to generate a 3-D image of a section
through the body by using mathematical process called algorithms. These
are helpful in showing cross sections of the spine. CT scans are like
slices of bread. If there is something within the bread, may be sausage,
picture of the bread would not show the sausage. But slicing the bread
with thickness of each slice being 5 millimeters than looking at each
slice laying down on its side would accurately show what is buried
within the bread.
They are able to provide detailed bone
information but are not that good in showing soft tissues like nerves,
tumors and herniated discs. This scanning process uses X-rays for
diagnosing. So, these two methods are commonly used for diagnosing the
cause of back pain. However, MRI scanning is more effective than CT
scanning as it provides a detailed and clear picture of soft tissues.
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