Boos N, Dreier D, Hilfiker E, Schade V, Kreis R, Hora J, Aebi M, Boesch C
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Bern, Switzerland.
J Orthop Res. 1997 Jan;15(1):141-9. doi: 10.1002/jor.1100150121.
The purpose of this investigation was to determine differences in tissue composition of symptomatic and asymptomatic disc herniations as reflected in T1 and T2 relaxation times (quantitative magnetic resonance imaging). Thirty patients with sciatica severe enough to require a discectomy and 46 asymptomatic volunteers (controls) were included in this study. Both groups had a clinical examination as well as a magnetic resonance investigation of the lumbar spine. The longitudinal and transverse magnetic relaxation times (T1 and T2, respectively) were calculated from a set of 20 images obtained with five single-slice/multi-echo sequences at different repetition time values on a commercial whole-body system (1.5 T). Twenty-two symptomatic and asymptomatic disc herniations could be matched according to age, gender, disc level, and the extent of herniation (protrusion or extrusion) and were compared with regard to T1 and T2 relaxation times. Symptomatic disc herniations exhibited significantly (pT1 < 0.04 and pT2 < 0.003) shorter T1 (delta T1: -182.1 milliseconds, -15%) and T2 (delta T2: -11.0 milliseconds, -21%) relaxation times than matched asymptomatic herniations. Symptomatic disc herniations also exhibited more advanced disc degeneration as graded by Pearce's criteria (p < 0.01). These results suggest that symptomatic and morphologically matched asymptomatic disc herniations differ with regard to disc matrix composition.
本研究的目的是确定有症状和无症状椎间盘突出症在T1和T2弛豫时间（定量磁共振成像）方面所反映的组织成分差异。本研究纳入了30例因坐骨神经痛严重到需要进行椎间盘切除术的患者以及46名无症状志愿者（对照组）。两组均接受了临床检查以及腰椎磁共振检查。纵向和横向磁弛豫时间（分别为T1和T2）是根据在商用全身系统（1.5T）上通过五个单切片/多回波序列在不同重复时间值下获得的一组20幅图像计算得出的。根据年龄、性别、椎间盘节段以及突出程度（膨出或脱出），可以将22例有症状和无症状的椎间盘突出症进行匹配，并就T1和T2弛豫时间进行比较。有症状的椎间盘突出症的T1（ΔT1：-182.1毫秒，-15%）和T2（ΔT2：-11.0毫秒，-21%）弛豫时间明显短于（pT1<0.04且pT2<0.003）匹配的无症状椎间盘突出症。根据皮尔斯标准分级，有症状的椎间盘突出症还表现出更严重的椎间盘退变（p<0.01）。这些结果表明，有症状和形态学上匹配的无症状椎间盘突出症在椎间盘基质成分方面存在差异。
