Effectiveness of Diffusion Tensor Imagingand T2 Weighted Imaging in the Evaluation of Muscle Injury in a Rat Model.

• Main Authors: Chen, Wei-Jia, 陳韋嘉
• Other Authors: Dennis.W.Hwang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/fa5wy2

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 化學暨生物化學研究所 === 105 === Low back pain (LBP) is a major cause of disability worldwide and also an extremely common problem that 70–85 % of peoples experience LBP at some time in their lives. LBP can have many causes. However, most people (> 85 %) have non-specific LBP, in which the exact cause is not clear. To successfully treat the disease, a correct diagnosis is necessary. Muscle fibrosis is known to cause non-specific LBP, but it is hard to prove. Here, we investigate whether a combination of T2-weighted and diffusion tensor images (DTI) can be used to diagnose LBP with muscle injury. Male Sprague Dawley rats weighted 450-600 g (n = 6 / group) were obtained and the muscular injury was performed on the right leg while the left leg served as a control. Animals were divided into two groups: muscle fibrosis group damaged by ethanol injection and muscle fatigue group triggeredby continuous electrical stimulation. Imaging was performedon a 3 Tesla scanner using 4-channel wrist coil. Whole-body MRI protocols included T1-weighted, T2-weighted and DTI sequences. After MRI, H&E stained muscle sections were obtained for comparison. Sections of muscle fibrosis group showed decreased muscle masswith severe inflammation and connective tissue infiltration. Sections of muscle fatigue group showed similar muscle mass with slightly alteration of muscle architecture. In T2WI, MR intensity of both muscle injury groups was more higher than that of control group. However, there was no significant difference in MR intensity between two muscle injury groups. In DTI, muscle fibrotic tissue has a largerflip angle whereasthe muscle fatigue tissue has a higher MD . In conclusion, we validate that a combination of T2WI and DTI can be used to discriminate between muscle injury and muscle fibrosis.