Meeting Banner
Abstract #1247

T1 imaging demonstrates inflammatory changes in disc endplates that were not visible in T1 or T2 weighted images

L.Tugan Muftuler 1 , Dhiraj Baruah 2 , and Andrew Klein 2

1 Department of Neurosurgery and Center for Imaging Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States, 2 Department of Radiology, Medical college of Wisconsin, WI, United States

In some patients with low back pain, degenerative marrow changes are observed in the endplates around the degenerating intervertebral discs. These changes are classified based on the appearance of vertebrae in T1 and T2 weighted MRI. Type-1 changes usually involve early inflammatory changes and believed to play a role in pain generation. Type-2 changes generally involves conversion to fatty marrow. Although this classification is widely accepted, those images may not be sufficiently sensitive to early changes. Increases in T1 lower case Greek rho relaxation rate were reported in regions of inflammation in animals. Therefore, we tested the efficacy of T1 lower case Greek rho imaging in endplate degeneration.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here