Abstract #3201

The assessment of cartilage endplate and its relationship with the corresponding disc degeneration using UTE imaging

Zhilin Ji¹, Weiqiang Dou², Yuefen Zou¹, Yin Shi¹, Yu Zheng¹, and Hongyuan Ding¹

¹The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China, ²GE Healthcare, MR Research China, Beijing, P.R. China, Beijing, China

In this study, we aimed to investigate the feasibility of ultra-short echo time (UTE) imaging for assessing the cartilage endplate (CEP) damage and evaluate the relationship between the grading of CEP and lumbar disc degeneration. UTE images with short and long TEs were performed on patients with low back pain. The resultant subtracted UTE images between short and long TEs showed well structural CEP clearly. Strong correlation was observed between CEP degree based on UTE imaging and lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration. With these findings, UTE imaging might thus be considered an effective tool to assess the CEP damage in clinic.

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