Thompson Jeffrey, Brismée Jean-Michel, Page Phillip, Hooper Troy, Rosendahl-Garcia Kathleen, Sobczak Stéphane
School of Health Professions Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University.
Department of Physical Therapy Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2025 Jul 2;20(7):964-973. doi: 10.26603/001c.140889. eCollection 2025.
Cervical intervertebral disc (IVD) height can be used to indirectly measure of IVD hydration status. Intervertebral disc dehydration results in height loss, which can contribute to degenerative disc disease. There is need for in situ cervical IVD ultrasound assessment to better understand spinal health.
To determine reliability and validity of musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSU) as a tool to measure cervical IVD height compared to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at C4-5, C5-6 and C6-7 spinal segments.
Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study.
This three-phase study enrolled 40 participants. Over the course of the study, 900 measurements of IVD were taken. Ten subjects participated in cervical spine MRI and MSU imaging to determine inter-rater reliability for cervical IVD height measurements. Twenty subjects underwent MRI and MSU to obtain images for measurement comparison and Bland-Altman Analysis assessed agreement between MSU and MRI (α=.05) for validity. Randomized, blinded, repeated-measures design using mean values was used to determine inter-rater reliability with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC(2,3)) and standard error of measurement (SEM) at each IVD segment.
Anterior cervical IVD height of MRI and MSU were ≥0.91(95%CI=0.66-0.98) and ≥0.68(95%CI=0.27-0.92), respectively. Musculoskeletal ultrasound measurement's SEM between raters was comparable to MRI at ≤0.43mm (7.9%). No significant differences nor proportional bias between MRI and MSU measurements (p<0.05) were found at any IVD spinal level, r(18)=0.83, p<0.01. Average underestimation of MSU measurements compared to MRI was ≤ -0.10mm (2.2%).
Methodology used for MSU cervical IVD height imaging and measurements was found to be moderately to highly reliable. Comparisons measurements between MRI and MSU support the use of MSU to measure cervical IVD height in future investigations, including variables which may affect the IVD hydration and homeostasis.
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颈椎间盘（IVD）高度可用于间接测量IVD的水合状态。椎间盘脱水会导致高度降低，这可能会导致椎间盘退变疾病。需要对颈椎IVD进行原位超声评估，以更好地了解脊柱健康状况。
确定肌肉骨骼超声（MSU）作为一种测量C4 - 5、C5 - 6和C6 - 7脊柱节段颈椎IVD高度的工具与磁共振成像（MRI）相比的可靠性和有效性。
探索性横断面研究。
这项分三个阶段的研究招募了40名参与者。在研究过程中，对IVD进行了900次测量。10名受试者接受颈椎MRI和MSU成像，以确定颈椎IVD高度测量的评分者间可靠性。20名受试者接受MRI和MSU检查以获取图像进行测量比较，并采用Bland - Altman分析评估MSU和MRI之间的一致性（α = 0.05）以确定有效性。使用均值的随机、盲法、重复测量设计，通过组内相关系数（ICC(2,3)）和每个IVD节段的测量标准误差（SEM）来确定评分者间可靠性。
MRI和MSU测量的颈椎前侧IVD高度分别≥0.91（95%CI = 0.66 - 0.98）和≥0.68（95%CI = 0.27 - 0.92）。评分者之间MSU测量的SEM与MRI相当，≤0.43mm（7.9%）。在任何IVD脊柱节段，MRI和MSU测量之间均未发现显著差异或比例偏差（p < 0.05），r(18) = 0.83，p < 0.01。与MRI相比，MSU测量的平均低估≤ - 0.10mm（2.2%）。
发现用于MSU颈椎IVD高度成像和测量的方法具有中度到高度的可靠性。MRI和MSU之间的比较测量结果支持在未来的研究中使用MSU来测量颈椎IVD高度，包括可能影响IVD水合和内环境稳定的变量。
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