Magnetic resonance elastography: A non-invasive biomarker for low back pain studies

Abstract

With lower back pain increasingly becoming a highly prevalent economic, clinical and social burden among the global population, the demand for a reliable clinical approach for the quantification of the mechanical properties of the human intervertebral disc (IVD) to detect premature degeneration or identify the underlying pathophysiology that is essential. IVD stiffness is an essential mechanical property for diagnosis in pathology and is often utilized to observe the health and detect the degeneration state of the IVD. Numerous methods (standard mechanical testing, rheology, and atomic force microscopy) to measure IVD stiffness exist; however, these tests can only be performed in excised tissue. The limitations and drawbacks surrounding these approaches greatly outweigh the benefits. Hence, the need to adopt Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) as a non-invasive, non-destructive technique to provide a quantitative understanding of IVD tissue microstructural integrity and degeneration through the measurement of IVD stiffness is imperative. The use of various ex-vivo animal models and human volunteers to measure IVD mechanical properties using MRE technology has been the focus of several studies and is the focus of this review paper. Our search through Web of Science Core and PubMed identified that 0.3% of total MRE publications are relevant to the IVD. It is profoundly suggested that this review, identify the utilization of MRE for the study of the IVD mechanical properties for early diagnosis of degeneration and anatomical abnormality, will provide a platform to shape future related research leading to new treatment techniques to resolve degeneration progress, or better yet propose IVD regeneration.

Keywords

• Magnetic Resonance elastography
• Elastography
• Intervertebral disc
• Mechanical properties
• Stiffness
• Tissue excitation