Researchers Link Supply of MRIs to Use, Subsequent Surgeries

Patients with low back pain have a greater chance of undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and surgery if they live in an area that has more MRI machines, say authors of a study that appears online in Health Affairs.

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ARTICLE ABSTRACT

Oct 25, 2009 7:15 AM - Researchers looked at data from a 20% sample of Medicare recipients who received care for low back pain from 1998 to 2005. Of the 666,455 low back pain episodes identified, 15.6% resulted in low back MRI and 2.7% resulted in low back surgery within 1 year of a physician visit. Patients in the highest concentration of MRI scanners were about 20% more likely to have back surgery than those who lived in an area with the lowest concentration.

"A natural interpretation of our results, consistent with other studies of low back pain treatment patterns, is that expanding MRI availability leads to increased use of MRI for low back pain, and the high frequency of incidental findings on MRI scans may induce a cascade of subsequent use of low back pain care, including surgery," say the authors.

According to the study, the number of MRI machines tripled in the US from 7.6 machines per million people in 2000 to 26.6 machines per 1 million people in 2005.

If you prefer to try a more conservative approach to your low back pain, please call ECRC Physical Therapy.