Quantitative evaluation of lumbar facet arthritis-induced cartilage injury by MR T2* mapping / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Lumbar facet arthritis is one of the main causes of low back pain.At present,MRI is mainly used for preliminary diagnosis,and there is still a certain probability of missed diagnosis and misdiagnosis.Therefore,MR T2* mapping imaging technology is expected to become an important means of quantitative detection of cartilage damage in lumbar facet arthritis. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the application value of MR T2* mapping imaging technique in quantitative analysis of cartilage damage and degeneration of lumbar facet joint. METHODS:A total of 110 outpatient or inpatient patients with low back pain in Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from April 2020 to March 2022 were collected and set as case group.At the same time,80 asymptomatic volunteers were recruited as the control group.T2* mapping transectal images and T2WI images were obtained by 3.0T MR Scanning for the facet joints of all included subjects L1-S1.Weishaupt grading and T2* value measurement were performed for all facet joint cartilage,and the data were collected for parallel statistical analysis.The comparison of T2* values of facet joint cartilage between different articular Weishaupt grades was performed by one-way analysis of variance. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:(1)Statistical analysis found that the T2* value of lumbar facet joint cartilage in the case group(17.6±1.5)ms was significantly lower than that in the control group(21.4±1.3)ms(P<0.05).(2)In the case group,with the hierarchical increase of lumbar facet joint Weishaupt,the T2*value of facet joint cartilage also showed a gradual decreasing trend,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).(3)It is concluded that T2*mapping can better display the early pathological changes of lumbar facet joint cartilage injury,and T2* value of lumbar facet joint cartilage can quantitatively evaluate the degree of lumbar facet joint cartilage injury.T2* mapping imaging technique can provide a good theoretical basis for the imaging diagnosis of the early cartilage injury induced by lumbar facet arthritis and has important clinical application value.