Quantitative MRI in early intervertebral disc degeneration: T1rho correlates better than T2 and ADC with biomechanics, histology and matrix content
Fig 3
High resolution T2w MRI of a mid-height transverse slice (left) with a schematic representation of the five ROIs drawn in the image on the right. The nucleus, inner- and outer-annulus region were separated by their signal intensity and morphological appearance on the transverse image. The anterior and posterior outer-annulus were defined as the most anterior and posterior 120o of outer-annulus laminae. The lateral section comprised the 60o sections in between anterior and posterior outer-annulus on each side. The mean signal intensity of the three outer-annulus regions was calculated from the signal intensity measured in two separate areas on opposite sides of the IVD. The posterior notch was omitted for analyzes because of lack of signal homogeneity.
