Published Paper Details:

ROLE OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING IN PATIENTS WITH CERVICALGIA IN A RURAL HEALTH SET UP INTRODUCTION: Neck pain is a common health problem throughout the world causing significant individual disability and economic burden on health care facility (1). The human spine is subjected to large compressive preloads during activities of daily living (3). MRI routinely demonstrates the cervical spine in multiple planes and provides complete information about all the structures as compared to CT. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To study magnetic resonance imaging features of patients with cervicalgia. METHODS: A prospective hospital based study is done on a total of 50 patients with cervicalgia in the age group 20-80 yrs. RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION: Majority of the patients were in the age group of 31 - 50 years with male: female ratio of 3:2 and the most common complaint was of neck pain. Majority of the disc desiccations were noted at lower cervical levels viz. C5/C6. Majority of disc bulges were at C5/C6 level. Cervical spondylosis is the most significant cause (82%) of cervical pain in our study followed by other etiologies. CONCLUSION: MRI is the choice of imaging in the evaluation of patients with cervicalgia and provides complete information about its structural abnormalities.