• Xinjuan Zhang, Li Yang, Fei Gao, Zhenguo Yuan, Xiangtao Lin, Bin Yao, Weibo Chen, Queenie Chan, and Guangbin Wang.
• Department of Radiology, Shandong Medical Imaging Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China (mainland).
• Med. Sci. Monit. 2015 Jul 4; 21: 1934-41.

BackgroundT1ρ and T2* relaxation times are capable of providing information about early biochemical changes in intervertebral disk degeneration (IVDD). The purpose of this study was to assess and compare T1ρ and T2* mapping in IVDD with reference to Pfirrmann grade.Material And MethodsLumbar sagittal T2-weighted, T1ρ and T2* relaxation MRI were performed at 3.0T in 42 subjects covering discs L1-L2 to L5-S1. All the discs were morphologically assessed according to the Pfirrmann grade. Regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn over the T1ρ and T2*mappings, including nucleus pulposus (NP) and annulus fibrosus (AF). Wilcoxon signed rank test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman rank correlation were performed.ResultsThe difference in T1ρ and T2* values between NP and AF were highly significant (P<0.001). The trends of decreasing T1ρ and T2* values of both NP and AF with increasing Pfirrmann grades was significant (P<0.01), particularly between Pfirrmann grade II and III (P<0.001), whereas T2* mapping was additionally able to detect changes in the AF between Pfirrmann grade I and II (P<0.05). Pfirrmann grades were inversely significantly correlated with both T1ρ and T2* values in the NP (r=-0.69, P<0.001; r=-0.56, P<0.001) and AF (r=-0.45, P<0.001; r=-0.26, P<0.001).ConclusionsThe process of IVDD can be detected by T1ρ and T2* mapping, particularly at early stage, and both methodologies displayed roughly comparable performance.

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