Assessing bone density on MRI: comparison between routine MRI sequences and DEXA scans

Purpose Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is frequently utilised to aid in the comprehensive assessment of back pain, while dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is the gold standard test for the assessment of bone density. Assessing bone density on MRI could reduce costs and avoid exposing patient...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European spine journal 2024-04, Vol.33 (4), p.1498-1503
Main Authors: Saad, A., Jenko, N., Petrou, E., Ariyaratne, S., Mehta, J. S., Djearaman, M. G., Rasul, F. T., Botchu, R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bone density
Cerebrospinal fluid
Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry
Image processing
Ionizing radiation
Magnetic resonance imaging
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Neurosurgery
Original Article
Osteoporosis
Psoas muscle
Spine (lumbar)
Surgical Orthopedics
Vertebrae
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Summary:Purpose Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is frequently utilised to aid in the comprehensive assessment of back pain, while dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is the gold standard test for the assessment of bone density. Assessing bone density on MRI could reduce costs and avoid exposing patients to ionising radiation. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether the relative signal intensity of vertebral bodies compared to other structures can detect osteoporosis on MRI. Methods 100 patients that had undergone both a lumbar spine MRI and a DEXA scan were identified. The T1 and T2 signal intensity of L1–L4 vertebral bodies (VB), cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF), and psoas muscle were measured within a 1-cm 2 region of interest (ROI), and the signal intensity ratios were calculated. The ratios were stratified as normal, osteopenic, or osteoporotic based on DEXA T-scores. Results The T1 VB /T1 CSF ratio was significantly higher in the osteoporotic group than the normal and osteopenic groups ( p  
ISSN:0940-6719
1432-0932
DOI:10.1007/s00586-023-08021-8