Kotaro Sekiya1, 2, Osamu Sakai1, Memi Watanabe1, Rohini N. Nadgir1, Joseph H. Liao1, Shun Sakai1, Takashi Kaneda3, Hernan Jara1
1Boston Medical Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States; 2Nihon University Graduate School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Matsudo, Chiba, Japan; 3Department of Radiology, Nihon University School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Matsudo, Chiba, Japan
Purpose: To investigate age-related changes of bone marrow in the mandible using quantitative MRI. Methods: 36 subjects were imaged using the mixed-TSE sequence at 1.5T. The mandible was manually segmented, and further divided into 5 regions. T1 and T2 relaxation time histograms and volumes of the entire mandible and 5 sub-segments were analyzed. Results: T1 and T2 histograms demonstrated expected age-related yellow marrow conversion. Conclusion: Expected progression of marrow change in the mandible by visual estimates is confirmed quantitatively; such quantitative analysis may prove useful in detecting subtle marrow abnormalities prior to becoming visually apparent.
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