Can MRI diagnose ankylosing spondylitis?
Disease description:
The back pain is severe, making it difficult to straighten the waist. The patient is also unable to turn over while sleeping. After visiting the hospital for examination, the doctor suspected ankylosing spondylitis and recommended an MRI. I would like to ask whether an MRI can definitively diagnose ankylosing spondylitis?
Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Xu Shuai
Ankylosing spondylitis cannot be directly diagnosed through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but MRI can assist in the diagnosis.
1. **Role of MRI**: MRI can clearly show lesions in the sacroiliac joints and spine, such as bone marrow edema, tendon and ligament abnormalities, helping to identify pathological changes.
2. **Comprehensive evaluation needed for diagnosis**: MRI alone usually cannot confirm the diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis. To make a definitive diagnosis, doctors also need to consider the patient's medical history, physical examination, laboratory tests (such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, HLA-B27 genetic testing), and results from other imaging studies.
Therefore, although MRI is an important tool in diagnosing ankylosing spondylitis, a confirmed diagnosis requires a comprehensive evaluation of multiple factors.
