ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There are many studies on Modic changes in patients with lumbar degenerative disease and low back pain. However, few studies facus on epidemiological distribution and related factors of Modic changes in cervical spine, and its epidemiology and influencing factors remain unclear.OBJECTIVE: To study the morbidity and distribution of Modic changes in patients with cervical and shoulder pain and its correlation with gender, age and cervical degeneration. METHODS: Totally 430 patients admitted in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University and undergoing cervical MRI and CT examination due to neck and shoulder pain between December 2014 and December 2016 were retrospectively analyzed, involving 197 males and 233 females, aged 19-78 years (mean age: 50.3 years). The morbidity and segmental distribution of Modic changes and its correlation with age, sex, cervical intervertebral disc degeneration and facet joint degeneration were analyzed. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Among 2 150 disc segments of 430 patients, 348 segments (16.2%) of 67 patients (15.6%) appeared with Modic changes:73(3.4%)segments were type I,243(11.3%)were type II,and 32(1.5%)were type III.(2)By application of chi-square test, Modic changes were most common at the C5/6segment; older than 40 years and Pfirrmann disc degeneration grade III were relevant factors, while gender and facet joint degeneration were not.