qMRI relaxometry of mandibular bone marrow: a monomodal distribution in sickle cell disease.

PURPOSE

To identify and characterize sickle cell disease (SCD)-related changes in the composition of mandibular bone marrow using qMRI relaxometry histograms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Thirteen SCD patients and 17 controls underwent brain MR imaging with the mixed turbo spin-echo (TSE) pulse sequence at 1.5T. The mandible was manually segmented and divided into body, angle, ramus, and condyle. T1 and T2 histograms of each mandible were modeled with Gaussian functions. The relaxation time histogram peaks were calculated, and the number of monomodal versus bimodal curves was compared.

RESULTS

SCD patients exhibited monomodal distributions on both T1 and T2 histograms, consistent with a composition of predominantly red hematopoietic marrow. Eighty-eight percent of mandibles in control subjects exhibited a bimodal distribution in T1 and all showed a bimodal distribution in T2, indicating mixed but predominantly yellow marrow composition. The second peak in control subjects was shorter in T1 and longer in T2, consistent with yellow marrow composition.

CONCLUSION

Instead of physiological fatty replacement, SCD patients exhibit red marrow persistence in the mandible, likely due to the increased demand for hematopoiesis. This phenomenon can be manifested by a monomodal curve in both T1 and T2 relaxometric histograms.