TY  - JOUR
A1  - Chen, Pinjie
A1  - Wu, Chunlei
A1  - Huang, Minghua
A1  - Jin, Guangjian
A1  - Shi, Qinglei
A1  - Han, Zhihua
A1  - Chen, Chun
T1  - Apparent diffusion coefficient of diffusion-weighted imaging in evaluation of cervical intervertebral disc degeneration : an observational study with 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging
T2  - BioMed research international
N2  - Aims. To investigate the correlation between the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value and cervical intervertebral disc degeneration in adult symptomatic patients.
Methods. A total of 52 symptomatic and 40 healthy volunteers were included. DWI and routine MRI examinations were performed to their cervical spines. The cervical discs (from C2-C3 to C6-C7) were graded according to the Pfirrmann grading system, and ADC values of the nucleus pulposus (NP) were measured. Differences of the ADC values between different genders and anatomic levels were analyzed; the correlation between the ADC value and the Pfirrmann grade was investigated. The cut-off ADC values of each Pfirrmann grade were calculated.
Results. The mean ADC value of the NP decreased with increasing Pfirrmann grade (I–V) upon both patients and asymptotic volunteers. The ADC value decreased descendingly from C2-C3 to C5-C6 (P<0.05) and then increased at C6-C7 (P<0.05). Additionally, the comparison of the ADC values between different genders achieved statistical significance at each anatomical level (P<0.05), except at C6-C7 (P<0.05). Significant negative correlations between the ADC value and either age or Pfirrmann grade were observed.
Conclusions. Our preliminary findings suggest that the ADC value obtained by DWI can provide a reliable indicator to evaluate the cervical disc degeneration.
Y1  - 2018
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/50926
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-509264
SN  - 2314-6141
SN  - 2314-6133
N1  - Copyright © 2018 Pinjie Chen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
VL  - 2018
IS  - Art. 6843053
SP  - 1
EP  - 7
PB  - Hindawi
CY  - New York [u. a.]
ER  -