Degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine: a prospective comparison of fast T1-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and T1-weighted turbo spin echo MR imaging

• Published in: European journal of radiology Vol. 55; no. 2; pp. 277 - 282
• Main Authors: Erdem, L. Oktay, Erdem, C. Zuhal, Acikgoz, Bektas, Gundogdu, Sadi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.08.2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Degenerative disc disease; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Diseases of the spine; Fast spin echo; Female; FLAIR technique; Humans; Intervertebral Disc - pathology; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Lumbar spine; Lumbar Vertebrae; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Statistics, Nonparametric; FLAIR technique; Fast spin echo; Lumbar spine; Degenerative disc disease; Nuclear medicine; Spinal cord; FLAIR techniques Fast spin echo; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Inversion recovery; Cerebrospinal fluid; Cauda equina; Spine disease; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Bone marrow; Radiology; Medical imagery; Technique; Intervertebral disk; Comparative study; Signal to noise ratio; Pulse sequence
• ISSN: 0720-048X; 1872-7727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2004.09.009

To compare fast T1-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and T1-weighted turbo spin-echo (TSE) imaging of the degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine. Thirty-five consecutive patients (19 females, 16 males; mean age 41 years, range 31–67 years) with suspected degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine were prospectively evaluated. Sagittal images of the lumbar spine were obtained using T1-weighted TSE and fast T1-weighted FLAIR sequences. Two radiologists compared these sequences both qualitatively and quantitatively. On qualitative evaluation, CSF nulling, contrast at the disc–CSF interface, the disc–spinal cord (cauda equina) interface, and the spinal cord (cauda equina)–CSF interface of fast T1-weighted FLAIR images were significantly higher than those for T1-weighted TSE images ( P < 0.001). On quantitative evaluation of the first 15 patients, signal-to-noise ratios of cerebrospinal fluid of fast T1-weighted FLAIR imaging were significantly lower than those for T1-weighted TSE images ( P < 0.05). Contrast-to-noise ratios of spinal cord/CSF and normal bone marrow/disc for fast T1-weighted FLAIR images were significantly higher than those for T1-weighted TSE images ( P < 0.05). Results in our study have shown that fast T1-weighted FLAIR imaging may be a valuable imaging modality in the armamentarium of lumbar spinal T1-weighted MR imaging, because the former technique has definite superior advantages such as CSF nulling, conspicuousness of the normal anatomic structures and changes in the lumbar spinal discogenic disease and image contrast and also almost equally acquisition times.