Ultra-short echo time MR imaging in assessing cartilage endplate damage and relationship between its lesion and disc degeneration for chronic low back pain patients

BMC Medical Imaging

卷:23

Research

Yue Li¹  Yin Shi¹  Yuefen Zou¹  Yaru Zhu¹  Zhilin Ji²  Weiqiang Dou³ 

[1] Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 210000, Nanjing, P.R. China;

[2] Department of Radiology, Tianjin Hospital, Jiefangnan Road, Hexi District, 300211, Tianjin, P.R. China;

[3] GE Healthcare, MR Research China, Beijing, P.R. China;

关键词: Chronic low back pain;    Disc degeneration;    Ultra-short echo time;    Magnetic resonance imaging;    Cartilage endplate;    Bony vertebral endplate;    Pfirrmann grade;    Total endplate score;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12880-023-01014-5

 received in 2021-11-14, accepted in 2023-04-06,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

ObjectiveTo investigate the feasibility of ultra-short echo time (UTE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the assessment of cartilage endplate (CEP) damage and further evaluate the relationship between total endplate score (TEPS) and lumbar intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration for chronic low back pain patients.Materials and methodsIVD were measured in 35 patients using UTE imaging at 3T MR. Subtracted UTE images between short and long TEs were obtained to depict anatomy of CEP. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were calculated to assess the image quality quantitatively. A new grading criterion for endplate damage evaluation was developed based on Rajasekaran.S grading system in this study. Two radiologists were employed to evaluate CEP and bony vertebral endplates (VEP) using this new grading criterion and assess TEPS, independently. Cohen’s kappa analysis was applied to evaluate the inter-observer agreement of endplate damage assessment between two radiologists, and the Kendall’s TAU-B analysis was employed to determine the relationship between TEPS and IVD degeneration evaluated with Pfirrmann grading.ResultsWell structural CEP was depicted on subtracted UTE images and confirmed by high SNR (33.06±2.92) and CNR values (9.4±2.08). Qualified subtracted UTE images were used by two radiologists to evaluate the degree of CEP and VEP damage. Excellent inter-observer agreement was confirmed by high value in Cohen’s kappa test (0.839, P < 0.001). Ensured by this, 138 endplates from 69 IVDs of 35 patients were classified into six grades based on the new grading criterion and TEPS of each endplate was calculated. In addition, the degeneration degree of IVDs were classified into five grades. Finally, using Kendall’s TAU-B analysis, significant relationship was obtained between endplate damage related TEPS and IVD degeneration (r = 0.864, P < 0.001).ConclusionEnsured by high image quality, UTE imaging might be considered an effective tool to assess CEP damage. Additionally, further calculated TEPS has shown strong positive association with IVD degeneration, suggesting that the severity of endplate damage is highly linked with the degree of IVD degeneration.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

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