Objective The cartilaginous endplate (CEP) exhibits an intrinsically short <InlineEquation ID="IEq2"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(T_2^\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation> model based on ultrashort echo time (UTE) sequence, and to explore the diagnostic utility of bi-exponential <InlineEquation ID="IEq3"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(T_2^\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation>–derived parameters and monoexponential UTE-<InlineEquation ID="IEq4"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(T_{2}\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation> mapping values in grading CEP damage.         Methods This study retrospectively collected 46 patients who underwent lumber UTE MRI, of whom 43 met the inclusion criteria. CEP was graded into three groups according to morphological features on multiple MRI sequences: healthy (structurally intact), mild damage (localized thinning or concavity with preserved continuity), and moderately damage (defects < 50% with disrupted continuity). Multiple quantities were evaluated using the UTE sequence on the CEP manually drawn by an experienced radiologist. One-way Kruskal-Wallis test was used to inspect the distribution differences among groups. Logistic regression and support vector machine models were applied to predict the level of degeneration with a considerably good precision, and receiver operating characteristic curves suggests a distinguishable performance among those models. Results <InlineEquation ID="IEq5"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(T_{2S}\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation> values showed significant differences among the groups (p < 0.05), with Tukey’s test indicating the most significant difference between the moderately damaged group and the healthy controls. <InlineEquation ID="IEq6"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\:{T}_{2L}\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation> values were non-normally distributed but statistically different between the moderate and mild damage groups (p < 0.05), a trend also observed in monoexponential UTE-<InlineEquation ID="IEq7"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(T_{2}\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation> mapping values (p < 0.05). The logistic regression and SVM models performed well in identifying moderate damage (AUC of 0.878 and 0.858, respectively), but had limited ability to detect mild damage (AUC of 0.718 and 0.729).       Conclusion The UTE bi-exponential <InlineEquation ID="IEq8"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(T_2^*\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation> model enable effective separation and quantification of distinct water components within the CEP. Both <InlineEquation ID="IEq9"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(\:{T}_{2L}\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation> and UTE-<InlineEquation ID="IEq10"><EquationSource Format="TEX">\(T_{2}\)</EquationSource></InlineEquation> mapping show promise as imaging biomarkers for grading CEP degeneration even in the early stage of CEP degeneration.

Evaluation of cartilaginous endplate degeneration with histogram features of multiple parameters in UTE MRI

期刊论文
出版模式：

开放获取
发表日期：

2026年5月15日

查看全文

Jingwei Miao,
Chuanyan Li,
Bingcang Huang,
Yu-Xuan Ren

摘要

Objective

The cartilaginous endplate (CEP) exhibits an intrinsically short \(T_2^*\) model based on ultrashort echo time (UTE) sequence, and to explore the diagnostic utility of bi-exponential \(T_2^*\)–derived parameters and monoexponential UTE-\(T_{2}\) mapping values in grading CEP damage.

Methods

This study retrospectively collected 46 patients who underwent lumber UTE MRI, of whom 43 met the inclusion criteria. CEP was graded into three groups according to morphological features on multiple MRI sequences: healthy (structurally intact), mild damage (localized thinning or concavity with preserved continuity), and moderately damage (defects < 50% with disrupted continuity). Multiple quantities were evaluated using the UTE sequence on the CEP manually drawn by an experienced radiologist. One-way Kruskal-Wallis test was used to inspect the distribution differences among groups. Logistic regression and support vector machine models were applied to predict the level of degeneration with a considerably good precision, and receiver operating characteristic curves suggests a distinguishable performance among those models.

Results

\(T_{2S}\) values showed significant differences among the groups (p < 0.05), with Tukey’s test indicating the most significant difference between the moderately damaged group and the healthy controls. \(\:{T}_{2L}\) values were non-normally distributed but statistically different between the moderate and mild damage groups (p < 0.05), a trend also observed in monoexponential UTE-\(T_{2}\) mapping values (p < 0.05). The logistic regression and SVM models performed well in identifying moderate damage (AUC of 0.878 and 0.858, respectively), but had limited ability to detect mild damage (AUC of 0.718 and 0.729).

Conclusion

The UTE bi-exponential \(T_2^*\) model enable effective separation and quantification of distinct water components within the CEP. Both \(\:{T}_{2L}\) and UTE-\(T_{2}\) mapping show promise as imaging biomarkers for grading CEP degeneration even in the early stage of CEP degeneration.