Assessment of vertebral and intervertebral disc microenvironment changes in postmenopausal women using IVIM and fat-water MRI

Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) and fat-water magnetic resonance imaging (FWMRI) are rarely used for vertebral and intervertebral disc. To search for predictive value of them in assessing the lumbar spine microenvironment changes, we performed a study with postmenopausal women combined the parameters with bone mineral density (BMD) and major fracture risk assessment (FRAX) score. We report that fat fraction (FF) has significant correlation with FRAX, FF was moderately negatively correlated with BMD; ADCslow of intervertebral discs showed moderately negatively correlation with FRAX score and FF. IVIM and FWMRI have potential to become new biomarkers in predicting lumbar spine microenvironment changes.