ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2026
Effect of paraspinal muscle morphometry in degenerative and isthmic spondylolisthesis: an MRI study.
Article in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe aim of this study is to investigate the role of the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the lumbar paraspinal muscles in the development of degenerative and isthmic spondylolisthesis and its effect on the percentage of slip (PoS).
methodsThis retrospective single-center study included 171 patients, 100 of whom were isthmic and 71 patients with degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis. First, CSAs of bilateral psoas major (PM), erector spinae (ES), and multifidus (MF) muscles were measured using MRI, and then the ratio of muscle areas to L5 vertebral body (VB) area was calculated. PoS was found by dividing the displacement distance of the superior vertebra to the corpus AP diameter of the inferior vertebra on sagittal T2-weighted images. Group comparisons were performed for muscle CSAs, VB ratios, PoS, disc height, and Modic changes, with additional analyses adjusted for age using ANCOVA.
resultsThe PoS rate of the degenerative group cases was found to be statistically significantly lower than the isthmic group cases (p = 0.002). The CSA of bilateral PM, bilateral MF, and right ES muscles of the patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis was found to be statistically significantly lower than the group with isthmic spondylolisthesis (p < 0.05). The MF/VB ratio was found to be significantly lower in the degenerative group (p < 0.01). After age adjustment, only the MF CSA difference persisted.
conclusionMF atrophy in degenerative spondylolisthesis appears to be associated with the underlying pathology rather than aging alone. These findings support incorporating targeted multifidus-strengthening and paraspinal muscle-preserving strategies into rehabilitation programs for spondylolisthesis.
Indexed as
Identifiers
40892232What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.