Abstract #1460

Age-Related Assessment of Intervertebral Disc Degeneration in the Lumbar Spine Using GagCEST

Gopal Varma¹, Fotini Kourtelidis¹, Ananth Madhuranthakam,¹², David B. Hackney³, Robert E. Lenkinski,¹², Elena Vinogradov,¹²

¹Radiology, Division of MR Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; ²Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States; ³Neuroradiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States

Early signs of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration are associated with a decrease in glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content. Recently, chemical exchange saturation transfer, i.e. gagCEST, has been used to assess GAG distribution in vivo. This work looks at application of gagCEST for analysis of IVDs from the lumbar spine of volunteers of varying age. The IVDs are grouped based on Pfirrmann grading, as well as age, and a decrease in gagCEST contrast is observed with increasing disc degeneration.