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Review
. 2019 Sep 29;3(1):e1066.
doi: 10.1002/jsp2.1066. eCollection 2020 Mar.

Imaging diagnosis for intervertebral disc

Izaya Ogon  1 , Tsuneo Takebayashi  2 , Hiroyuki Takashima  1 , Tomonori Morita  1 , Yoshinori Terashima  1 , Mitsunori Yoshimoto  1 , Toshihiko Yamashita  1
Affiliations
Review

Imaging diagnosis for intervertebral disc

Izaya Ogon et al. JOR Spine. .

Abstract

Various functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have been investigated in recent years and are being used in clinical practice for the patients with low back pain (LBP). MRI is an important modality for diagnosing intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. In recent years, there have been several reported attempts to use MRI T2 mapping and MRI T1ρ mapping to quantify lumbar disc degeneration. MRI T2 mapping involves digitizing water content, proteoglycan content, and collagen sequence breakdown as relaxation times (T2 values) at each site. These digitized values are used to create a map, that is, then used to quantitatively evaluate the metabolite concentrations within IVD tissues. MRI T2 mapping utilizes the T2 relaxation time to quantify moisture content and the collagen sequence breakdown. MRI T1ρ mapping digitizes water molecule dispersion within the cartilaginous matrix to evaluate the degree of cartilaginous degeneration. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a less-invasive diagnostic test that provides biochemical information. Adequate analysis of the IVD has not yet been performed, although there are indications of a relationship between the adipose content of the multifidus muscle in the low back and LBP. The ultra short TE technique has been recently used to investigate lumbar cartilaginous endplates. Unlike diagnosis based on contrast-enhanced images of the IVD, which depends on the recurrence of pain that is determined subjectively, MRI-based diagnosis is less-invasive and based on objective imaging findings. It is therefore expected to play a key role in the diagnostic imaging of IVD conditions in the future.

Keywords: imaging diagnosis; intervertebral disc; magnetic resonance imaging.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
MRI T2 mapping image
Figure 2
Figure 2
In second echo image, disc was divided into five areas, designating the front of the anterior annulus fibrosus (AF), the middle of the nucleus pulposus (NP), and the last of the posterior AF (A). In the same region, we measured the mean values (B)
Figure 3
Figure 3
The case presentation of T2 values for each respective each Pfirrmann classification grade
Figure 4
Figure 4
MRI T1ρ mapping image
Figure 5
Figure 5
Regions of interests (ROIs) were positioned on cartilaginous endplates (CEPs), intervertebral disc (IVD), and vertebral bone (VB), and signal intensities (Sis) were measured. ROIs of IVD were located with the center of IVDs, and that of CEP, indicating for high signal between IVD and VB. Similarly, that of VB, a region of low signal adjacent to CEP
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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