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- Title
T1rho and T2 relaxation times for lumbar disc degeneration: an in vivo comparative study at 3.0-Tesla MRI.
- Authors
Wang YX; Zhao F; Griffith JF; Mok GS; Leung JC; Ahuja AT; Yuan J; Wang, Yi-Xiang J; Zhao, Feng; Griffith, James F; Mok, Greta S P; Leung, Jason C S; Ahuja, Anil T; Yuan, Jing
- Abstract
<bold>Objective: </bold>To determine the relative performance of T1rho and T2 relaxation times in disc degeneration assessment.<bold>Methods: </bold>Lumbar sagittal MRI was performed at 3 T in 52 subjects. With a spin-lock frequency of 500 Hz, T1rho was measured using a rotary echo spin-lock pulse embedded in a three-dimensional (3D) balanced fast field echo sequence. A multi-echo TSE sequence was used for T2 mapping. Regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn over the T1rho and T2 maps, including nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF). Eight- and five-level disc degeneration semi-quantitative grading was performed.<bold>Results: </bold>For NP, T1rho and T2 decreased quadratically with disc degeneration grades and had no significant trend difference (P = 0.40). For AF, T1rho decreased linearly as the disc degenerated and had a slope of -3.02 and -4.56 for eight- and five-level gradings respectively; while the slopes for T2 values were -1.43 and -1.84 respectively, being significantly flatter than those of T1rho (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference in T1rho and T2 values for both NP and AF among discs of grade 5/8 to 8/8 degeneration.<bold>Conclusion: </bold>T1rho is better suited for evaluating AF in degenerated disc than T2. In NP, T1rho and T2 decrease in a similar pattern following disc degeneration.
- Publication
European Radiology, 2013, Vol 23, Issue 1, p228
- ISSN
0938-7994
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1007/s00330-012-2591-2