Objective A minimally invasive treatment of osteoporotic and nonosteoporotic thoracic and lumbar spine fractures is cement augmentation (kyphoplasty). Little is known about the impact on adjacent intervertebral discs. A quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach in addition to morphological MRI is desirable to evaluate changes in the intervertebral disc. Our study aims to evaluate the feasibility of T2 mapping for the detection of subtle changes in the intervertebral discs in spines after kyphoplasty. Design Intervertebral discs were assessed by quantitative MRI (3.0 T) using T2 relaxation time mapping. Region of interest (ROI; 6 per disc) analyses were performed. The ROIs at the anterior and posterior edges were interpreted as annulus fibrosus (AF). The 2 very inner zones were regarded as nucleus pulposus (NP) and the regions in between as intermediate transition zone. We compared T2 relaxation time values of intervertebral discs adjacent to the vertebrae after kyphoplasty with those nonadjacent to vertebrae after kyphoplasty, especially in the NP. Results The analysis of the ROIs showed that the intervertebral discs of the adjacent vertebral segments are associated with reduced T2 values compared to those that are nonadjacent to the affected vertebrae. Conclusion This study is to our knowledge the first investigation of intervertebral discs after kyphoplasty by quantitative MRI. Quantitative T2 mapping shows increased degeneration in adjacent intervertebral discs following kyphoplasty. Besides its contribution to a broader knowledge of postoperative changes after kyphoplasty, our findings may help to improve differentiation between healthy and degenerated intervertebral discs using these techniques.

中文翻译：

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定量T2映射显示后凸成形术后相邻椎间盘退变增加。

目的微创治疗骨质疏松和非骨质疏松性胸椎和腰椎骨折的方法是骨水泥强化术（后凸成形术）。关于对相邻椎间盘的影响知之甚少。除形态学MRI之外，还需要定量磁共振成像（MRI）方法来评估椎间盘的变化。我们的研究旨在评估T2作图法用于检测后凸成形术后脊柱椎间盘微妙变化的可行性。使用T2弛豫时间图通过定量MRI（3.0 T）评估设计椎间盘。进行了感兴趣区域（ROI；每张光盘6个）分析。前边缘和后边缘的ROI被解释为纤维环（AF）。2个非常内部的区域被视为髓核（NP），其中间的区域被视为中间过渡区域。我们比较了椎体后凸成形术后邻近椎骨的椎​​间盘的T2松弛时间值与椎体后凸成形后与椎骨不相邻的椎间盘之间的T2松弛时间值，尤其是在NP中。结果对ROI的分析表明，与不相邻于受影响椎骨的椎间盘相比，相邻椎骨节段的椎间盘具有降低的T2值。结论据我们所知，这项研究是通过定量MRI对脊柱后凸成形术后椎间盘进行的首次研究。T2定量图显示后凸成形术后相邻椎间盘的变性增加。除了有助于更广泛地了解后凸成形术后的变化之外，