Imaging perfusion in the vertebral bone marrow and subchondral bone using FAIR ASL

Some patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) do not show any diagnosable conditions in conventional imaging methods. Studies suggested that pain could be associated with the degeneration of vertebral endplate region in those nonspecific cLBP patients. The endplates around degenerating discs experience trauma, which leads to inflammation, angiogenesis, neurogenesis and infection. Currently, there is no established method to diagnose such pathologies. We previously reported associations between increased endplate perfusion and experience of cLBP using DCEMRI. In this study we explored Arterial Spin Labeling to avoid using contrast agents. Results show that FAIR could be used to study endplate perfusion.