MRE-Derived Stiffness Measurements of Painful and Non-Painful Discs from Low Back Pain Patients

Motivation: No prior work has used Magnetic Resonance Elastography to determine if mechanical parameters can be used to differentiate between painful and non-painful discs in Low Back Pain patients. Goal(s): To determine if there are differences in the mechanical and compositional properties of painful and non-painful discs from the same patient. Approach: Seventeen patients were recruited from the clinic and had MRE, T1rho, and T2 done on a clinically diagnosed painful and non-painful disc. Results: Stiffness parameters were significantly stiffer for painful discs, T2 compositional parameter showed significantly higher water content in non-painful discs, and a trend towards increased T1rho in non-painful discs. Impact: Developing a method to objectively measure tissue stiffness, demonstrating there are mechanical differences in painful discs compared to non-painful controls, and demonstrating compositional differences between these groups allows clinicians and researchers to have more tools to assess low back pain