Lumbar (Intervertebral) Disk Disorders Workup
- Author: Jere F Baldwin, MD; Chief Editor: Rick Kulkarni, MD more...
Laboratory Studies
Laboratory tests generally are not helpful in the diagnosis of lumbar disk disease.
Indications for screening laboratory examinations include pain of a nonmechanical nature, atypical pain pattern, persistent symptoms, and age older than 50 years.
- Complete blood count (CBC) with differential
- Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)
- Alkaline and acid phosphatase level
- Serum calcium level
- Serum protein electrophoresis
Imaging Studies
Radiographic studies are very helpful in the diagnosis of lumbar disk disease,[2] but several important caveats should be taken into account with the use of these tests.[3]
Most patients with pain from lumbar disk disease have resolution of their symptoms with conservative treatment.
For an otherwise healthy individual, unless the patient is immobilized completely by the pain and requires admission or the pain has been present for more than 6 weeks, diagnostic studies are not recommended. Elderly patients or those with a history of cancer or chronic infection (including tuberculosis), trauma, or osteoporosis should have imaging studies performed as part of their routine workup during initial presentation.
MRI is the imaging modality of choice in evaluating patients with lumbar disk disease.[4] Studies have shown that as many as 60% of people without back symptoms have disk bulges and protrusions on MRI.[5] Therefore, these findings may not correlate with the patient's symptoms.
CT scanning is useful for diagnosing disk disease but is less sensitive than MRI. CT scanning of the abdomen can help to evaluate and rule out other etiologies of pain such as aortic aneurysm, ureteral calculi, and intra-abdominal causes. Combining CT scan with myelography can increase the sensitivity of the modality for spinal cord pathology.
Myelography may provide a definitive diagnosis on its own, but this is an invasive test requiring a lumbar puncture and the use of contrast material.
Plain films of the lumbar spine generally are not helpful in the diagnosis of lumbar disk disease, except to rule out other diseases and to evaluate for possible skeletal etiology as the cause of the patient's symptoms. They should be performed in patients who are elderly or those with a history of cancer or chronic infection (including tuberculosis), trauma, or osteoporosis.
Technetium-99m labeled phosphorus indicates active mineralization of bone. A bone scan is indicated to rule out tumors, trauma, or infection.
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[Best Evidence] Weinstein JN, Tosteson TD, Lurie JD, et al. Surgical vs nonoperative treatment for lumbar disk herniation: the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT): a randomized trial. JAMA. Nov 22 2006;296(20):2441-50. [Medline].
Weinstein JN, Lurie JD, Tosteson TD, et al. Surgical vs nonoperative treatment for lumbar disk herniation: the Spine Patient Outcomes Research Trial (SPORT) observational cohort. JAMA. Nov 22 2006;296(20):2451-9. [Medline].
Frost H, Lamb SE, Doll HA, et al. Randomised controlled trial of physiotherapy compared with advice for low back pain. BMJ. Sep 25 2004;329(7468):708. [Medline].
Gilbert FJ, Grant AM, Gillan MG, et al. Low back pain: influence of early MR imaging or CT on treatment and outcome--multicenter randomized trial. Radiology. May 2004;231(2):343-51. [Medline].
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