Usefulness of T1 images on diagnosis of vertebral body and intervertebral disk diseases

The usefulness of T1 images in the evaluation of spinal disorders was studied. Ten normal subjects and 40 patients were examined by MR-CT with a 0.1 tesla resistive magnet. In spondylosis degenerated vertebral bodies and intervertebral disks showed short T1 values compared with controls. In disc herniation and discitis, degenerated disks also showed marked decrease of brightness of nucleus pulposus on T1 images. T1 value of hemangioma of L2-body was about 200msec. T1 images were useful in the evaluation of degenerated vertebral bodies and intervertebral disks. (author)