Diffusion Weighted Imaging, Diffusion Tensor Imaging, and T2* Mapping of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc in Young Healthy Adults

Although conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could provide excellent detection of morphological changes in the diagnosis of lumbar disc degeneration (LDD), it has some difficulties in discriminating minimal changes associated with early LDD before morphological or clinical alterations. Therefore, newer MRI techniques have emerged for investigation of early LDD. The aim of this study was to use diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and T2* mapping to detect lumbar discs in healthy young adults, to evaluate if they could depict the microstructural changes of early LDD. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), and T2* images of the lumbar discs were obtained for 40 asymptomatic young subjects (19 males and 21 females; mean age of 24.3 years), using DWI, DTI and T2* mapping with a 1.5-T MRI scanner. ADC, FA, and T2* values were measured to compare five regions of interest (ROI) selected in each nucleus pulposus (NP) of the images. The ADC, FA, and T2* values were different (P < 0.05) among different ROIs within the same disc or among corresponding ROIs in different level discs. While the average values of ADC increased regularly with the lowering of the anatomical location (P < 0.05), the average FA and T2* values also associated with the anatomic locations, showed an increase in L4-L5 and L5-S1 discs (P < 0.05). ADC, FA, and T2* values may quantitatively reflect the microstructural characteristics of NP, therefore they could be used to detect the minimal changes of early LDD.