Abstract #1999

Comparision of Discography Opening Pressure to T1ρ Relaxation in the Inter-Vertebral Disc in Vivo

Matthew Fenty¹, Walter RT Witschey 2nd^1,2, Haris Mohammad¹, Philip Maurer³, Ravinder Reddy¹, Dawn Elliott⁴, Arijitt Borthakur¹

¹Radiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa, USA; ²Graduate Group in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa, USA; ³Booth, Bartolozzi, Balderston - 3B Orthopaedics, P.C., Philadelphia, Pa, USA; ⁴McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa, USA

We correlate discography opening pressure with T_1ρ relaxation values within the nucleus pulposus in the inter-vertebral disc. Preliminary data demonstrates an increasing linear trend with opening pressure to mean disc T_1ρ values with an R² of 0.70. Additionally, we find a decreasing linear relationship comparing Pfirrman Grade from T₂ imaging with T_1ρ values with an R² of 0.61 which is similar to previously reported findings.