Chan Hong Moon1, Lloydine Jacobs2,3,
Jung-Hwan Kim1, Bernard Bechara2,3, Tiejun Zhao4,
James Kang2,3, Kyongtae Ty Bae1
1Radiology, University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 2Orthopaedic Surgery,
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; 3Ferguson
Laboratory for Orthopaedic & Spine Research; 4MR Research
Support, Siemens Healthcare, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
We successfully achieved high-resolution, high-contrast proton and sodium MR imaging and measured sodium concentration of normal rabbit spine discs using an in-house dual-tuned RF coil and ultra-short echo time spiral sequence at 3T human scanner. Further study is necessary to demonstrate difference in sodium concentrations between normal and degenerative disc models in rabbits, thereby validating quantitative sodium imaging biomarker for degenerative disc disease.
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