The Application Value Of T2 Mapping Imaging In The Evaluation Of Cervical Disc Degeneration In Patients With Neck Pain

Objective Analyzing the associations between cervical disc T2 values which were measured by T2 mapping and gender,age,position and Northwick Park neck pain questionnaire in patients with neck pain.To explore the application value of T2 mapping on assessing the cervical disc degeneration in patients with neck pain.Materials and Methods Forty six patients(age range: 28-75 years;mean age: 50.87±11.93;21 female,25 male)suffering from neck pain were collected from july to December,2016.GE Discovery MR750 3.0T magnetic resonance imaging system was used to perform sagittal T2 mapping scan.The T2 values of different segments from C2/3 to C6/7 intervertebral discs and different areas were measured by the software of post processing,and the three areas of interest including nucleus pulposus,anterior annulus fibrosus and posterior annulus fibrosus were identified.Independent samples T-test,ANOVA and Pearson correlation analysis were used for statistical analysis.Results The T2 value of male cervical intervertebral disc was higher than that of female,and there was significant difference in the gender of the nucleus pulposus,anterior annulus fibrosus and whole disc(P < 0.05).There were no significant differences in the T2 values of the nucleus pulposus of the cervical intervertebral discs in males,but there was no significant difference(P > 0.05).The difference of T2 value in different segments of anterior annulus fibrosus of cervical intervertebral disc was 0.001.On the whole,the T2 value of anterior annulus fibrosus of cervical intervertebral disc was increased with the decrease of disc segment.There was significant difference between C2/3 and C5/6,C2/3 and C6/7,C3/4 and C5/6,C3/4 and C6/7,the T2 value of anterior annulus fibrosus between C4/5 and C6/7(P < 0.01).The T2 value of cervical nucleus pulposus and posterior annulus fibrosus of intervertebral disc increased with the decrease of disc segment,but there was no significant difference in T2 value between different segments(P > 0.05).The T2 value of cervical nucleus pulposus of cervical intervertebral disc was higher than that of anterior and posterior annulus,the difference was statistically significant(P < 0.01).There was a negative correlation between the T2 value of the nucleus pulposus of cervical intervertebral disc and age(r=-0.485,P < 0.01).There was no significant correlation between the T2 value of the anterior and posterior annulus and age(P > 0.05).There was a negative correlation between the T2 value and the total score of the cervical disc nucleus pulposus(r=-0.388,P < 0.01),which was negatively correlated with the first,second,third,forth and the seventh in the list(P < 0.05).There was no correlation between the T2 value and the total score of the anterior and posterior annulus fibrosus(P > 0.05).The total score of NPQ scale score was negatively correlated with the T2 value of C4/5,C5/6 and C6/7 nucleus pulposus(P < 0.05).Conclusion T2 mapping imaging is a method of quantitative evaluation of cervical disc degeneration imaging and noninvasive quantitative evaluation of neck pain degree in patients with neck pain caused by cervical disc degeneration.It can be used for prospective evaluation of cervical intervertebral disc early degeneration and secondary injury in order to achieve the early diagnosis and early treatment for the cervical intervertebral disc degeneration in patients with neck pain.