Muhammad Imran Hameed Daula, Saima Amin, Asma Bano.
Acute low back pain radiographic prevalence of common congenital lumbosacral spinal anomalies in young patients presenting with non specific acute low back pain.
Professional Med J Jan ;23(04):484-8.

Objectives: X ray of the lumbosacral spine is widely used in our clinical setting early on in the management of patients presenting with nonspecific acute low back pain. This practice is in contradiction to the clinical practice guidelines however patient satisfaction is usually the main motive declared by clinicians following this practice. This study was conducted to detect the radiologic prevalence of the most commonly diagnosed congenital anomalies in lumbosacral spine X rays done for patients presenting with nonspecific acute low back pain. Study Design & Setting: Prospective descriptive study at Shalamar Hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Duration of Study: Six months from September 2014 to February 2015. Subjects and Methods: Radiographs of 400 patients presenting with non-specific acute low back pain and fulfilling the inclusion / exclusion criteria were examined. Data was analyzed on SPSS version 13 and percentage and frequency of patients with non-specific acute low back pain with lumbosacral transitional vertebra (LSTV), spina bifida and spondylolysis was calculated. Results: Out of 400 patients 185 were males and 215 were females. Age of the patients ranged from 15 to 36 years with mean age of 28 (SD ±4.84). 145 patients (36.25%) were found to have congenital anomalies of lumbosacral vertebrae in question. The prevalence of LSTV was 19.5% (78 patients), spina bifida was 10% (40 patients) and spondylolysis was 9% (36 patients). 2% (9 patients) had more than one anomaly. Conclusions: This study shows a higher prevalence of lumbosacral transitional vertebra (LSTV) and spondylolysis in Pakistani patients presenting with non-specific acute low backache, compared to that quoted in literature. This arguably may constitute a convincing argument in favor of obtaining lumbosacral spine X-rays early on in the management of young patients presenting with non-specific acute low backache.

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