ISSLS Prize Winner: A Study of Diffusion in Human Lumbar Discs: A Serial Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Documenting the Influence of the Endplate on Diffusion in Normal and Degenerate Discs

Abstract

Serial postcontrast magnetic resonance imaging studies offer a reliable method of assessing the diffusion of the discs and the functional status of the endplate cartilage. Endplate cartilage damage increases with age and produces considerable changes in diffusion. The present study has described reliable signs by which these damages can be identified in vivo. Aging and degeneration have been shown to be two separate processes by documenting clear-cut differences in diffusion. The present data encourage use of diffusion studies as a noninvasive method to assess the physiologic status of the disc and endplate and to study the effect of drugs, smoking, mechanical loading, exercises, etc. on the physiology of the disc.