Texture-based quantification of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration from conventional T2-weighted MRI

BackgroundDisc degeneration quantification is important for monitoring the effects of new therapeutic methods, such as cell and growth factor therapy. Magnetic resonance (MR) image texture reflects biochemical and structural tissue properties and has been used for differentiating between normal and pathological status in a variety of medical applications.PurposeTo investigate the suitability of textural descriptors for the quantification of intervertebral disc degeneration using conventional T2-weighted magnetic resonance images of the lumbar spine.Material and MethodsA 3 Tesla scanner was used, and conventional T2- weighted MR images were obtained, and a total of 255 lumbar discs were analyzed. An atlas-based method was used for segmenting the disc regions from the images. A set of first and second order statistics describing texture of each region were calculated. The validity and reliability of these descriptors for disc degeneration severity quantification was tested through their correlation with pat...