Evaluation of Vertebral Bone Marrow with Diffusion Weighted MRI and ADC Measurements Vertebral Kemik İliğinin Difüzyon Ağirlikli MRG ve ADC Ölçümleri ile Değerlendirilmesi

Objective: The purpose was to determine the usefulness of diffusion- weighted imaging (DWI) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in the evaluation of vertebral bone marrow. -3 mm 2 /s, respectively. A total of 103 fractures were encountered in 74 patients and L1 was the most com- monly fractured vertebra (20 fractures, 19.4%). DWI and ADC qualitative assessment of fractures showed no significant difference between groups. The mean DWI and ADC values of fractured vertebrae was found to be 284.3±255.8 and 1.35±0.39x10 -3 mm 2 /s, respectively, which were signifi- cantly higher than that of normal vertebrae (p<0.05). The mean DWI value of normal vertebrae (76.2±37.3) and fractured vertebrae (124.5±87.6) in osteoporotic patients were significantly lower than that of non-osteopo- rotic patients (172.4±105.6 and 359.6±274.3) (p<0.05). Conclusion: DWI and ADC quantitative evaluation can differentiate frac- tured vertebrae from normal vertebrae, but qualitative assessment of fractures cannot distinguish between groups. DWI with quantitative as- sessment is helpful in the differential diagnosis of osteoporotic fractures from malignant fractures and also osteoporotic normal vertebrae from non-osteoporotic normal vertebrae, but ADC values are unhelpful.