JOURNAL OF BACK AND MUSCULOSKELETAL REHABILITATION, vol.23, no.2, pp.97-100, 2010 (SCI-Expanded)
Background and objective: Modic changes (MC) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were described in 1988 by Modic et al. in a study among patients with chronic low back pain. Type 1 changes were shown to represent an acute inflammatory process while type 2 changes were found in chronic lesions. Since mechanical back pain is very common, it is often difficult to differentiate precisely the origin of the back pain in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) based only on clinical assessment, laboratory findings and/or plain imaging.