Hiroyuki Takashima PhD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Tsuneo Takebayashi MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Mitsunori Yoshimoto MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Yoshinori Terashima MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Kazunari Ida MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Rui Imamura, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Yoshihiro Akatsuka RT, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Hiroki Shishido RT, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Motomichi Sakata PhD, RT, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Toshihiko Yamashita MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

In this study, we captured diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of the affected nerve root in lumbar disc herniation and examined the relationship between apparent diffusion coeffi cient (ADC) and clinical symptoms to evaluate the effi cacy of DWI in the diagnosis of lumbar spinal disorders.

The subjects were patients who underwent surgical management of unilateral radiculopathy caused by a single level lumbar disc herniation where the affected nerve root could be easily identified. The clinical symptoms of all the subjects (total 30; 19 males, 11 females; average age: 44.3 ± 15.5 years) were consistent with the imaging findings. We analyzed the relationship between morbidity duration, Visual analogue scale (VAS) score, and ADC. In addition, we investigated any correlation between the improvement rate of VAS before and after surgery with ADC.

When compared to the contralateral intact side, ADC of the affected nerve root was observed to increase in 18 subjects and decrease in 12 subjects and thus no definite trend were observed. In cases showing a decrease in ADC on the affected side, the VAS recovery ratio was low, suggesting that patients with decreased ADC tended to show poor improvement of leg symptoms.

This study showed that patients with decreased ADC tended to show poor improvement of leg symptoms, which may suggest the possibility that ADC of DRG is related to neuronal plasticity.

The evaluation of DRG using ADC calculated from the DWI data may be available for a variety of spinal disorders such as lumbar spinal stenosis.

Takashima, H, Takebayashi, T, Yoshimoto, M, Terashima, Y, Ida, K, Imamura, R, Akatsuka, Y, Shishido, H, Sakata, M, Yamashita, T, Efficacy of Diffusion-weighted MRI in Diagnosing Spinal Root Disorders in Lumbar Disc Herniation.  Radiological Society of North America 2014 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, - ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2014/14019284.html