Diagnostic value of magnetic resonance neurography for spinal nerve compression in patients with osteoporotic lumbar fracture
LIU Dan1 CHEN Xiaoyu1 ZUO Xiaohua2 PAN Wei3 ZHOU Changdong1 LU Xiaoqing3 ZHANG Xiaobing1▲
1.Department of Medical Imaging, Huaian Second People’s Hospital, Jiangsu Province, Huaian 223001, China;
2.Department of Pain, Huaian Second People’s Hospital, Jiangsu Province, Huaian 223001, China;
3.Department of Orthopedic, Huaian Second People’s Hospital, Jiangsu Province, Huaian 223001, China
Abstract:Objective To study the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance neurography (MRN) for spinal nerve compression in patients with osteoporotic lumbar fracture. Methods Sixty-seven patients with osteoporotic lumbar fracture admitted to Huaian Second People’s Hospital, Jiangsu Province from January 2018 to December 2021 were selected. All of them underwent magnetic resonance imaging and MRN examination, included sagittal position of lumbar T1 (weighted imaging) WI, sagittal position of T2WI, axial position of T2WI, short time inversion recovery (STIR) sequence, and three dimensional-multiple echo recalled gradient echo (3D-MERGE) sequence. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and spinal nerve display score of STIR and 3D-MERGE sequences were compared. With surgical results as the “gold standard”, the diagnostic efficacy of the two sequences for spinal nerve compression was analyzed. Results The SNR and CNR of 3D-MERGE sequence were higher than those of STIR sequence, and the grade of spinal nerve display score was better than STIR sequence (P<0.05). STIR sequence diagnosis showed six cases of spinal nerve compression and distortion among 67 patients with osteoporotic lumbar fracture, nine cases of 3D-MERGE sequence diagnosis, and ten cases of surgical results. The accuracy of 3D-MERGE sequence in diagnosing spinal nerve compression in patients with osteoporotic lumbar fracture was higher than that of STIR sequence (P<0.05), but there was no significant difference in sensitivity and specificity between the two sequences (P>0.05). Conclusion MRN has a high diagnostic value for spinal nerve compression and distortion in patients with osteoporotic lumbar fracture, and can provide scientific and reasonable imaging basis for the diagnosis and treatment of clinical spinal neuropathy.