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Correlation between diffusion in lumbar intervertebral disks and lumbar artery status: Evaluation with fresh blood imaging technique
Author(s) -
Tokuda Osamu,
Okada Munemasa,
Fujita Takeshi,
Matsunaga Naofumi
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.20785
Subject(s) - medicine , lumbar , lumbar arteries , diffusion mri , radiology , intervertebral disk , lumbar vertebrae , anatomy , magnetic resonance imaging , biomedical engineering
Purpose To evaluate the correlation of the lumbar artery status with the diffusion values in lumbar vertebral disks in patients with low back problems using a fresh blood imaging (FBI) technique. Materials and Methods First, both digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and MR angiography (MRA) was performed, and the weighted kappa value between DSA and MR angiography in evaluating the status of lumbar arteries was calculated. Then, The sagittal diffusion‐weighted MR images in 260 intervertebral disks (L1‐2 to L4‐5) and MR angiographic images using FBI technique in the corresponding 260 lumbar artery pairs (total of 520 arteries) of the 65 patients with low back problems were separately evaluated by two radiologists. Results The weighted kappa value between DSA and MRA in evaluating the status of lumbar arteries in both observes indicated good agreement. There were significant correlations between the status of lumbar arteries and the ADC values of the lumbar disks in all orthogonal directions (x, y, and z) at all intervertebral levels except L4‐5 by both observers ( P < 0.001). Conclusion There is a strong association between the diminished flow in lumbar arteries and the decreased diffusion of lumbar intervertebral disks at all intervertebral levels except at L4‐5. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.