IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0076697.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is the Transport of a Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agent Decreased in a Degenerated or Aged Disc? A Post Contrast MRI Study

Author

Listed:
  • Marta Tibiletti
  • Fabio Galbusera
  • Cristina Ciavarro
  • Marco Brayda-Bruno

Abstract

A post contrast magnetic resonance imaging study has been performed in a wide population of low back pain patients to investigate which radiological and phenotypic characteristics influence the penetration of the contrast agent in lumbar discs in vivo. 37 patients affected by different pathologies (disc herniation, spondylolisthesis, foraminal stenosis, central canal stenosis) were enrolled in the study. The selected population included 26 male and 11 female subjects, with a mean age of 42.4±9.3 years (range 18–60). Magnetic resonance images of the lumbar spine were obtained with a 1.5 T scanner (Avanto, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) with a phased-array back coil. A paramagnetic non–ionic contrast agent was injected with a dose of 0.4 ml/kg. T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were subsequently acquired at 5 time points, 5 and 10 minutes, 2, 4 and 6 hours after injection. Endplates presented clear enhancement already 5 minutes after injection, and showed an increase in the next 2 hours followed by a decrease. At 5 and 10 minutes, virtually no contrast medium was present inside the intervertebral disc; afterwards, enhancement significantly increased. Highly degenerated discs showed higher enhancement in comparison with low and medium degenerated discs. Discs classified as Pfirrmann 5 showed a statistically significant higher enhancement than Pfirrmann 1, 2 and 3 at all time points but the first one, possibly due to vascularization. Disc height collapse and Modic changes significantly increased enhancement. Presence of endplate defects did not show any significant influence on post contrast enhancement, but the lack of a clear classification of endplate defects as seen on magnetic resonance scans may be shadowing some effects. In conclusion, disc height, high level of degeneration and presence of Modic changes are factors which increase post contrast enhancement in the intervertebral disc. The effect of age could not be demonstrated.

Suggested Citation

  • Marta Tibiletti & Fabio Galbusera & Cristina Ciavarro & Marco Brayda-Bruno, 2013. "Is the Transport of a Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agent Decreased in a Degenerated or Aged Disc? A Post Contrast MRI Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-9, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0076697
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076697
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0076697
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0076697&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0076697?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabio Galbusera & Antje Mietsch & Hendrik Schmidt & Hans-Joachim Wilke & Cornelia Neidlinger-Wilke, 2013. "Effect of intervertebral disc degeneration on disc cell viability: a numerical investigation," Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 328-337.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0076697. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.