| Annulus Fibrosis (Score 0 – 10) |
| Morphology of AF |
0. Well organised
1. Mildly disorganised (<25%)
2. Moderately Disorganised (25-75%)
3. Completely Ruptured (>75%)
|
| Chondrocyte Metaplasia of AF |
0. No Chondrocyte Metaplasia
1. Mild chondrocyte proliferation (inner AF layers only)
2. Moderate chondrocyte proliferation (inner half of AF)
3. Marked chondrocyte proliferation (outer AF layers)
|
| Tears and Cleft Formation |
0. Absent
1. Rarely present
2. Present in intermediate amounts
3. Abundantly present
4. Scar/tissue defects
|
| Nucleus Pulposus (Score 0 – 9) |
| Matrix Staining of NP |
0. Red stain dominates
1. Mixture of red and green staining
2. Green stain dominates
|
| Chondrocyte Proliferation of NP |
0. No proliferation
1. Increased chondrocyte cell density
2. Connection of two chondroctyes
3. Small clones (2-7 cells)
4. Moderate size clones (8-15 cells)
5. Huge clones (>15 cells)
6. Scar tissue defects
|
| Endplate and Vertebral Body (Score 0 – 9) |
| Endplate Morphology |
0. Regular homogeneous Structure
1. Slightly irregular thickness
2. Moderately irregular thickness
3. Severely irregular thickness with interruption of endplate
|
| New Bone Formation |
0. Absent
1. Minor new bone formation
2. Moderate amount of new bone formation
3. Abundant new bone formation – tendency toward bridging
|
| Subchondral Bone Sclerosis |
0. No sclerosis (<2 × thickness of dorsal vertebral cortex)
1. Mild sclerosis (2-4 × thickness of dorsal vertebral cortex)
2. Moderate sclerosis (>4 × thickness of dorsal vertebral cortex)
3. Severe subchondral bone irregularities
|
