Fig. 5

Assessment of spinal diffusion-weighted imaging (a, b b1000 thoracic (a) and lumbar (b) spine images) to obtain a qualitative and (semi-)quantitative interpretation of the diffusion restriction of regions-of-interest in the spine and of reference tissues in the same patient as in Fig. 3. For the apparent diffusion coefficients and corresponding parametric maps (thoracic (c) and lumbar (d) spine), all b-values (0, 200, 400, 600, 1000) were used for analysis. Regions-of-interest and reference tissue segmentations were matched with the anatomical sequences for optimal detailed segmentation. E.g. the apparent diffusion coefficient of the ninth thoracic vertebra (diffusely invaded bone marrow), of the tenth thoracic vertebra (benign compression fracture), of the focal lesion in the first lumbar vertebra, and of the focal lesion in the first sacral vertebra (white arrows) equal 712, 1330, 801, and 658 × 10^-6 mm²/s, indicating diffusion restriction in all regions-of-interest except for the benign compression fracture in the tenth thoracic vertebra. ADC(R) apparent diffusion coefficient (ratio), bslope(R) bslope (ratio), b-value diffusion-sensitizing gradient, DWI diffusion-weighted imaging, sag sagittal, SI(R) signal intensity (ratio)