What Should I Expect from a Spine MRI?

Spinal MRI examination is a correct diagnosis of spinal and spinal cord diseases. MRI is significantly higher than CT, and the source is displayed and located accurately. It can be used as the preferred method of examination.

Chinese name: Spinal MRI
Nature: medicine

Signal strength: Fat, nucleus pulposus, bone marrow, bone cancellous
Detection crowd: Spinal meningocele and spinal meningocele

Normal spinal MRI examination

The MRI manifestations of the normal spine in descending order of signal intensity are: fat, nucleus pulposus, bone marrow, cancellous bone, spinal cord, muscle, cerebrospinal fluid, fibrous rings, ligaments, and cortex. With the spin echo sequence, the spinal cord, bone marrow, and cancellous bone are at T1. The weighted imaging is clear, while the ligaments, subarachnoid space, and intervertebral disc are at T2 weighted imaging.

If pathological tissue is included, the order of decreasing brightness on T1-weighted imaging is fat, bone marrow, old bleeding from 4 to 5 days, protein-rich fluids (such as necrotic tissue), mucus, melanin, and slow blood flow. (Such as venous blood) free radicals, GDDTPA (as an MRI enhancer; the order of decreasing brightness at T2-weighted imaging is tumor, Gliosis, edema, old bleeding at 1 week, fluid, intervertebral disc. At T1 and T2 Those with dark (low) signals on the weighted imaging were air, rapid blood flow (such as arterial blood), calcium, iron, blood within a few days, ligaments, tendons, and other magnetically sensitive substances.

Clinical significance of spinal MRI

Abnormal results:

MRI can accurately evaluate the spine and various pathological conditions. T1 weighted imaging is suitable for evaluating intramedullary lesions, spinal cysts, and bone destruction, while T2 weighted imaging is used for evaluating bone and labial hyperplasia, disc degeneration, and acute spinal cord injury.

Changes in bone structure such as primary bone tumors, tumor-like disorders, metastases, and infections have special manifestations on MRI. Normal osteoporosis shows high density on T1-weighted imaging. In contrast, vertebral cavernous hemangiomas or cavernous vessels Endothelial tumor.

In T1 and T2 weighted imaging, bright signals are presented, and high signals at T1 are related to the presence of fat, and because of the high water content, T also shows high signals. Cystic metastatic lesions are at T, and weighted imaging usually appears as bright signals, while T. Weighted imaging is dark signal. Blastic metastatic lesions such as metastatic prostate cancer have low signal on T1 weighted imaging, which is the same as cortical bone. Metastases, like new organisms that do not contain fat, show low signal at T1 weighted imaging and high signal at T2. MRI can also be used to detect bone diseases, such as bone marrow iron deposition and osteopetrosis, in which diseased tissue replaces normal bone marrow.