TY  - JOUR
A1  - Han, Zhihua
A1  - Gao, Liang
A1  - Shi, Qinglei
A1  - Chen, Lei
A1  - Chen, Chun
T1  - Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging for diagnosis of intervertebral disc degeneration of the cervico-thoracic junction : a pilot study
T2  - American journal of translational research
N2  - This study aimed to appraise two quantitative magnetic resonance imaging techniques, T2* imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), for the diagnosis of the intervertebral disc degeneration of the cervico-thoracic junction. Influence of specific factors and diagnostic accuracy of both techniques were particularly explored. Sixty-one volunteers with neck and upper back pain were recruited and evaluated with both T2* imaging and DWI. The Pfirrmann grade, T2* relaxation time and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value of each disc between C7 and T3 were recorded. Stratified analyses were performed for different anatomic levels, genders, age ranges and Pfirrmann grades. The diagnostic accuracy of both techniques was investigated using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. No statistically significant difference of either T2* relaxation time or ADC value was detected between males and females. Both parameters decreased with the increasing age and Pfirrmann grade. The ROC curves showed the higher sensitivity and specificity for T2* imaging than DWI to quantitatively identify the disc degeneration. Particularly, T2* imaging allowed for a quantitative distinguishing the normal, mild and moderate disc degeneration from the severe degeneration, which was unable to accomplish with DWI. In conclusion, we demonstrated that T2* imaging possess a better accuracy than DWI to quantitatively diagnose the intervertebral disc degeneration at the cervico-thoracic junction.
KW  - Quantitative MRI
KW  - cervico-thoracic junction
KW  - intervertebral disc degeneration
Y1  - 2018
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/45928
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-459288
UR  - http://www.ajtr.org/files/ajtr0068982.pdf
SN  - 1943-8141
N1  - Once the paper is published, the copyright will be released by the publisher under the "Creative Commons 
Attribution Noncommercial License", enabling the unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and 
reproduction of the published article in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
SP  - 925
EP  - 935
PB  - e-Century Publishing Corporation
CY  - Madison, Wis.
ER  -