title: Reliable chemical exchange saturation transfer imaging of human lumbar intervertebral discs using reduced-field-of-view turbo spin echo at 3.0 T.
abstract: The reduced field-of-view (rFOV) turbo-spin-echo (TSE) technique, which effectively suppresses bowel movement artifacts, is developed for the purpose of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging of the intervertebral disc (IVD) in vivo. Attempts to quantify IVD CEST signals in a clinical setting require high reliability and accuracy, which is often compromised in the conventionally used technique. The proposed rFOV TSE CEST method demonstrated significantly superior reproducibility when compared with the conventional technique on healthy volunteers, implying it is a more reliable measurement. Phantom study revealed a linear relation between CEST signal and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) concentration. The feasibility of detecting IVD degeneration was demonstrated on a healthy volunteer, indicating that the proposed method is a promising tool to quantify disc degeneration.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Imaging Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Zhaoyang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Natsuaki
authors.forename: Wafa
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tawackoli
authors.forename: Gadi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pelled
authors.forename: Hyun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gazit
authors.forename: Debiao
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006025:Glycosaminoglycans / Q000378:metabolism; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007403:Intervertebral Disc / Q000473:pathology*; D055959:Intervertebral Disc Degeneration / Q000473:pathology; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D013113:Spin Labels
chemical_list: D006025:Glycosaminoglycans; D013113:Spin Labels
keywords: CEST; bowel movement; intervertebral disc; reduced FOV