THREE NEW STUDIES: CT SCANS UNCOVER WIDESPREAD SI JOINT DEGENERATION (Orthopedics This Week)
CT Scans Uncover Widespread but Asymptomatic SI Joint Deterioration
Sometimes you must return to the basics in order to go forward. Such was the thinking behind new research on sacroiliac (SI) joint degeneration from Stanford University and Bellevue Bone and Joint Physicians in Washington. Jonathan-James Eno, M.D., an orthopedic resident at Stanford, told OTW, “For our study, which was just published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, the goal was to establish a baseline prevalence of sacroiliac joint degeneration in the asymptomatic population. We undertook this topic because the prevalence of low back pain continues to be a huge burden on society, and the potential for the SI joint as a source of low back pain has led to a renewed interest in surgical or procedural intervention, including injections and fusions. Arthrodesis has made a comeback recently, in part, because of the introduction of more minimally invasive approaches.”
“Surgeons have traditionally relied heavily on radiographic findings of SI joint degeneration to implicate it as a source of pain. We wanted to evaluate ho...
