title: Age related reduction of T1rho and T2 magnetic resonance relaxation times of lumbar intervertebral disc.
abstract: This report aims to study the age related T1rho and T2 relaxation time changes in lumbar intervertebral disc. Lumbar sagittal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed with a 3 Tesla scanner in 52 subjects. With a spin-lock frequency of 500 Hz, T1rho was measured using a rotary echo spin-lock pulse embedded in a 3D balanced fast field echo sequence. A multi-echo turbo spin echo sequence was used for T2 mapping. Regions-of-interest were drawn over the T1rho and T2 maps, including nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus. For L1/2-L4/5 discs, results showed the age associated reduction of T1rho of nucleus pulposus had a of slope of -1.06, the reduction of T2 of nucleus pulposus had a slope of -1.47, the reduction of T1rho of annulus fibrosus had a slope of -0.25, and the reduction of T2 of annulus fibrosus had a slope of -0.18, with all the slopes significantly non-zero. In nucleus pulposus the slope of T2 was slightly steeper than that of T1rho (P=0.085), while in annulus fibrosus the slope of T1rho was slightly steeper than that of T2 (P=0.31). We conclude that significant age related reduction of T1rho and T2 magnetic resonance relaxation times of lumbar intervertebral disc was observed, however, the relative performances of T1rho vs. T2 were broadly similar.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China ; 2 School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Xiang J
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China ; 2 School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: James F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China ; 2 School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Jason C S
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China ; 2 School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
keywords: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); T1rho; T2; annulus fibrosus; degeneration; disc; nucleus pulposus; relaxation time