الفهرس 
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Abstract
The current study was conducted to assess differences in decision making in patients of lumbar degenerative spine based on CT vs. MRI. The study enrolled 30 patients. Mean age of the studied patients was 44.57 years with range between 20 and 73 years old. Majority of patients was males.
Lumbar canal stenosis and lumbar disc prolapse were found in 20 (66.7%) and 17 (56.7%) patients, respectively. Six patients had degenerative listhesis and only one patient had lumbar spondylosis. It was found that the surgeons had good degree of agreement as regard decision either based on CT (k degree= 90.3%, p< 0.001) or MRI (k degree= 96.8%, p< 0.001).
The main finding in the study was that MRI had better diagnostic assessment of patients with degenerative spine diseases. There was significant difference between surgeons’ decisions based on CT and that of based on MRI (p< 0.001). Conservation with follow up was reported in 6.7% and 7.3% of CT and MRI decisions, respectively. Up to 12% of CTs’ decisions were completely confirmed and required further evaluation with MRI.
In conclusion, MRI of the spine is a rapidly evolving modality. MRI is the first-line diagnostic tool for evaluation of spinal diseases particular those cases with degenerative spine diseases. Multiple centers future studies are warranted to confirm such findings.