ArticleEuropean spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society2018
MRI histogram analysis enables objective and continuous classification of intervertebral disc degeneration.
Article in European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- ISSLS Prize in Bioengineering Science 2026: Hidden in Plain Sight: Machine Learning-Assisted MRI Reveals Novel Vertebral Body Biomarkers of Chronic Low Back Pain in Humans.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2026Article
- Elite rock-climbers exhibit early signs of degenerative spinal changes; enhanced analysis using quantitative MRI.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Automated radiomics pipeline integrating TotalSpineSeg for Pfirrmann grading of lumbar disc degeneration with SHAP-based interpretability.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Etiology, diagnosis and treatment of lumbar disc degeneration: a focus on the mechanism of action of Piezo1 and research perspectives.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Evaluation of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc and Facet Joint Degeneration Using Histogram Analysis of T2 and T2* Values.JOR spine · 2025Article
- Histogram-based analysis for confocal microscope images with immunofluorescent staining: A graphical-user-interface tool.MethodsX · 2025Article
- Effective disc age: a statistical model for age-dependent and level-specific lumbar disc degeneration using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2025Article
- A novel quantitative method to evaluate lumbar disc degeneration: MRI histogram analysis.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2024Article
- Detailed MRI evaluation of the spine: a 2-year follow-up study of young individuals reporting different training doses.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2023Article
- Biomarkers for intervertebral disc and associated back pain: From diagnosis to disease prognosis and personalized treatment.JOR spine · 2023Review
- Associations between Vertebral Localized Contrast Changes and Adjacent Annular Fissures in Patients with Low Back Pain: A Radiomics Approach.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Detection of Imperceptible Intervertebral Disc Fissures in Conventional MRI-An AI Strategy for Improved Diagnostics.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Non-Invasive Evaluation of Intradiscal Deformation during Axial Loading of the Spine Using Deformation-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Potential Tool for Micro-Instability Measurements.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Visualizing patterns of intervertebral disc damage with dual-energy computed tomography: assessment of diagnostic accuracy in an ex vivo spine biophantom.Acta radiologica (Stockholm, Sweden : 1987) · 2022Article
- Self-Assembling Peptide Hydrogels as Functional Tools to Tackle Intervertebral Disc Degeneration.Gels (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Deep learning-based high-accuracy quantitation for lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration from MRI.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Different disc characteristics between young elite skiers with diverse training histories revealed with a novel quantitative magnetic resonance imaging method.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2021Article
- Feasibility study for evaluating lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration using histogram analysis of T2* values.European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2020Article
- Characterization of Intervertebral Disc Changes in Asymptomatic Individuals with Distinct Physical Activity Histories Using Three Different Quantitative MRI Techniques.Journal of clinical medicine · 2020Article
- Is fractal dimension a reliable imaging biomarker for the quantitative classification of an intervertebral disk?European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the best diagnostic imaging method for low back pain. However, the technique is currently not utilized in its full capacity, often failing to depict painful intervertebral discs (IVDs), potentially due to the rough degeneration classification system used clinically today. MR image histograms, which reflect the IVD heterogeneity, may offer sensitive imaging biomarkers for IVD degeneration classification. This study investigates the feasibility of using histogram analysis as means of objective and continuous grading of IVD degeneration.
methodsForty-nine IVDs in ten low back pain patients (six males, 25-69 years) were examined with MRI (T2-weighted images and T2-maps). Each IVD was semi-automatically segmented on three mid-sagittal slices. Histogram features of the IVD were extracted from the defined regions of interest and correlated to Pfirrmann grade.
resultsBoth T2-weighted images and T2-maps displayed similar histogram features. Histograms of well-hydrated IVDs displayed two separate peaks, representing annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus. Degenerated IVDs displayed decreased peak separation, where the separation was shown to correlate strongly with Pfirrmann grade (P < 0.05). In addition, some degenerated IVDs within the same Pfirrmann grade displayed diametrically different histogram appearances.
conclusionsHistogram features correlated well with IVD degeneration, suggesting that IVD histogram analysis is a suitable tool for objective and continuous IVD degeneration classification. As histogram analysis revealed IVD heterogeneity, it may be a clinical tool for characterization of regional IVD degeneration effects. To elucidate the usefulness of histogram analysis in patient management, IVD histogram features between asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals needs to be compared.
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