Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Radiol Imaging 2023; 33(04): 450-455
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-57255
Original Article

The T1 Ratio of Marrow (TROM) as a Novel Tool to Identify Metastatic from Nonmalignant Marrow Lesions of the Spine: A Pilot Study

Autor*innen

  • Neha Nischal

    1   Department of Musculoskeletal Radiology, Royal Orthopedic Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Mahtab Afzali

    2   Aston Medical School, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Parham Shojaie

    2   Aston Medical School, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Christine Azzopardi

    1   Department of Musculoskeletal Radiology, Royal Orthopedic Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Karthikeyan P. Iyengar

    3   Department of Orthopedics, Southport and Ormskirk Hospital, Southport, United Kingdom
  • Shahnawaz Haleem

    4   Department of Spine Surgery, Royal Orthopedic Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Jonathan Daniel Stevenson

    5   Department of Orthopedic Oncology, Royal Orthopedic Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • Rajesh Botchu

    1   Department of Musculoskeletal Radiology, Royal Orthopedic Hospital, Birmingham, United Kingdom

Funding None.

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to analyze quantitative values of normal and abnormal marrow on T1-weighted images of spine, to propose a ratio for T1 values of abnormal to normal vertebrae, and to assess whether this ratio could be helpful in predicting presence of neoplastic lesions in the spine.

Materials and Methods One-hundred randomly selected magnetic resonance imagings of lumbar spine without infection, fracture, and tumor were selected to form normal cohort. A second cohort of 100 metastasis of lumbar spine was identified. Ratio of T1 value of vertebral body to the T1 value of the inferior vertebral body was performed for normal cohort from D11 to L5. Ratio of T1 value of metastasis to adjacent normal vertebral body was done for metastatic cohort. Data was analyzed using standard t-test and kappa was performed for intra- and inter-observer reliability.

Results A decline in T1 value of abnormal to normal marrow was seen in patients with metastasis that was statistically significant. We call this the T1 ratio of marrow (TROM). The sensitivity and accuracy with the cutoff value of TROM at 0.7 (92% sensitivity, 97.1% accuracy) are better than at 0.6 (75% sensitivity, 96.2% accuracy) or 0.5 (47% sensitivity, 93.2% accuracy). A subset analysis of the other T1 hypointense benign lesions including atypical hemangiomas and focal marrow hyperplasia, however, revealed overlapping TROM values with the metastatic cohort.

Conclusion Using the TROM on T1-weighted images could not confidently differentiate malignant from benign T1 hypointense lesions of the spine.



Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
02. Mai 2023

© 2023. Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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