European Radiology 2010-11-01

Multiparameter MRI assessment of normal-appearing and diseased vertebral bone marrow.

Andreas Biffar, Andrea Baur-Melnyk, Gerwin P Schmidt, Maximilian F Reiser, Olaf Dietrich

Index: Eur. Radiol. 20(11) , 2679-89, (2010)

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Abstract

To evaluate spin-lattice (T1) and spin-spin (T2) relaxation times as well as apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of the fat and water components in the vertebral bone marrow (vBM) of patients with benign and malignant lesions.Forty-four patients were examined at 1.5 T: there were 24 osteoporotic vertebral fractures (15 women, 9 men; median age: 73, 48-86 years) and 20 malignant vertebral infiltrations (9 women, 11 men; median age: 60, 25-87). Relaxation times were determined separately for the water and the fat component using a saturation-recovery technique for T1 and measurements with variable echo times for T2. ADCs were determined with a diffusion-weighted (DW) echo-planar imaging (EPI) and a single-shot turbo-spin-echo (ssTSE) sequence.T1 of the water component and ADCs were significantly increased in the lesions compared with normal-appearing vBM (malignant: 1,252 vs. 828 ms, osteoporotic: 1,315 vs. 872 ms). ADCs determined with the DW-ssTSE were significantly increased compared with the DW-EPI. ADCs determined with the DW-ssTSE differed significantly between osteoporotic and malignant lesions (1.74 vs 1.35 x 10⁻³ mm²/s.All parameters exhibit significant differences between normal-appearing vBM and the lesions. However, only the ADCs determined with the DW-ssTSE differed significantly between osteoporotic fractures and malignant lesions, potentially allowing for a differential diagnosis of these two entities.