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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Jun 28, 2025; 17(6): 107164
Published online Jun 28, 2025. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i6.107164
Published online Jun 28, 2025. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i6.107164
Enhancing back pain and sciatica diagnosis: Coronal short tau inversion recovery’s role in routine lumbar magnetic resonance imaging protocols
Somaya Al Kiswani, Department of Radiology, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman 11941, Jordan
Maysoon Nasser, Department of Radiology, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Amman 11941, Jordan
Abdulla Alzibdeh, Department of Radiation Oncology, King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman 11941, Jordan
Elias EQ Lahham, Department of Radiation Oncology, Augusta Victoria Hospital, Jerusalem 9119101, Palestine
Author contributions: Al Kiswani S contributed to the conceptualization, methodology, data organization, and writing of the original manuscript; Nasser M conducted the survey, data collection, and formal analysis; Alzibdeh A carried out resources, supervision, project management; Lahham EEQ performed validation, visualization, writing; Al Kiswani S and Lahham EEQ contributed to the review and editing of the manuscript; and all authors thoroughly reviewed and endorsed the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Al-Quds University Jerusalem, approval No. 603/REC/2025.
Clinical trial registration statement: Not applicable.
Informed consent statement: This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants provided written informed consent to participate in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: All data generated or analyzed during this study are available within the article’s supplementary materials. The datasets analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Elias EQ Lahham, MD, Chief Physician, Lecturer, Researcher, Depart
Received: March 17, 2025
Revised: April 12, 2025
Accepted: May 21, 2025
Published online: June 28, 2025
Processing time: 101 Days and 18.9 Hours
Revised: April 12, 2025
Accepted: May 21, 2025
Published online: June 28, 2025
Processing time: 101 Days and 18.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Incorporating a coronal short tau inversion recovery sequence into routine lumbar magnetic resonance imaging protocols significantly enhances diagnostic accuracy for patients with back pain and sciatica. This sequence improves the detection of spinal and extra-spinal pathologies - especially sacroiliitis and pelvic abnormalities - that may be missed on standard axial and sagittal T1 and T2 sequences. Our findings support the integration of coronal short tau inversion recovery as a cost-effective, practical addition that can meaningfully influence diagnosis and clinical management.