Table 8.

Studies evaluating the association between MRI imaging pathology and facet pain

Author, year	Patient population	Design	Results	Comments
Daimon et al 201994	81 pts presenting immediately and 20 years after whiplash injury for MRI	Prospective longitudinal	Progression of degeneration on MRI was observed in 95% of subjects. Changes in neck pain severity was not associated with progression of degenerative changes on MRI	C4–5 and C5–6 levels most frequently exhibited degeneration
Nevalainen et al 201615	173 pts with MRI studies demonstrating cervical facet edema	Retrospective	Significant correlation between neck pain and/or unilateral radiculopathy and ipsilateral bone marrow edema. No correlation between pain intensity and severity of edema	9% prevalence of cervical facet edema, most commonly at C3–4, C4–5, and C2–3. The study did not confirm the presence of facet-mediated pain through diagnostic blocks
Cohen et al 200720	92 pts who underwent cervical facet RFA after positive MBB	Retrospective	The only clinical variable associated with positive response to cervical medial branch RFA was paraspinal tenderness	Facet pathology was noted on cervical spine MRI in 48% of pts but was not predictive of treatment outcome

MBB, medial branch block; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; pts, patients; RFA, radiofrequency ablation.