Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
European Radiology
Published in: European Radiology 4/2016

01-04-2016 | Musculoskeletal

Lumbar annulus fibrosus biomechanical characterization in healthy children by ultrasound shear wave elastography

Authors: Claudio Vergari, Guillaume Dubois, Raphael Vialle, Jean-Luc Gennisson, Mickael Tanter, Jean Dubousset, Philippe Rouch, Wafa Skalli

Published in: European Radiology | Issue 4/2016

Login to get access

Abstract

Objectives

Intervertebral disc (IVD) is key to spine biomechanics, and it is often involved in the cascade leading to spinal deformities such as idiopathic scoliosis, especially during the growth spurt. Recent progress in elastography techniques allows access to non-invasive measurement of cervical IVD in adults; the aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and reliability of shear wave elastography in healthy children lumbar IVD.

Methods

Elastography measurements were performed in 31 healthy children (6–17 years old), in the annulus fibrosus and in the transverse plane of L5–S1 or L4–L5 IVD. Reliability was determined by three experienced operators repeating measurements.

Results

Average shear wave speed in IVD was 2.9 ± 0.5 m/s; no significant correlations were observed with sex, age or body morphology. Intra-operator repeatability was 5.0 % while inter-operator reproducibility was 6.2 %. Intraclass correlation coefficient was higher than 0.9 for each operator.

Conclusions

Feasibility and reliability of IVD shear wave elastography were demonstrated. The measurement protocol is compatible with clinical routine and the results show the method’s potential to give an insight into spine deformity progression and early detection.

Key Points

• Intervertebral disc mechanical properties are key to spine biomechanics
• Feasibility of shear wave elastography in children lumbar disc was assessed
• Measurement was fast and reliable
• Elastography could represent a novel biomarker for spine pathologies
Literature
1.
Humzah MD, Soames RW (1988) Human intervertebral disc: structure and function. Anat Rec 220:337–356CrossRefPubMed
2.
3.
Modi H, Suh S, Song H-R, Yang J-H, Kim H-J, Modi C (2008) Differential wedging of vertebral body and intervertebral disc in thoracic and lumbar spine in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis - a cross sectional study in 150 patients. Scoliosis 3:11CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
4.
Hristova GI, Jarzem P, Ouellet JA et al (2011) Calcification in human intervertebral disc degeneration and scoliosis. J Orthop Res 29:1888–1895CrossRefPubMed
5.
Melrose J, Gurr KR, Cole TC, Darvodelsky A, Ghosh P, Taylor TK (1991) The influence of scoliosis and ageing on proteoglycan heterogeneity in the human intervertebral disc. J Orthop Res 9:68–77CrossRefPubMed
6.
Roberts S, Menage J, Eisenstein SM (1993) The cartilage end-plate and intervertebral disc in scoliosis: calcification and other sequelae. J Orthop Res 11:747–757CrossRefPubMed
7.
Stokes IA, Spence H, Aronsson DD, Kilmer N (1996) Mechanical modulation of vertebral body growth. Implications for scoliosis progression. Spine 21:1162–1167CrossRefPubMed
8.
Weiler C, Schietzsch M, Kirchner T, Nerlich AG, Boos N, Wuertz K (2012) Age-related changes in human cervical, thoracal and lumbar intervertebral disc exhibit a strong intra-individual correlation. Eur Spine J 21(Suppl 6):S810–S818CrossRefPubMed
9.
Walter BA, Korecki CL, Purmessur D, Roughley PJ, Michalek AJ, Iatridis JC (2011) Complex loading affects intervertebral disc mechanics and biology. Osteoarthr Cartil 19:1011–1018CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
10.
Little JP, Adam C (2012) Towards determining soft tissue properties for modelling spine surgery: current progress and challenges. Med Biol Eng Comput 50:199–209CrossRefPubMed
11.
Matsumoto T, Kitahara H, Minami S et al (1997) Flexibility in the scoliotic spine: three-dimensional analysis. J Spinal Disord 10:125–131CrossRefPubMed
12.
Farshad-Amacker NA, Nguyen TD, Farshad M, Andreisek G, Min K, Frauenfelder T (2015) Semiautomatic superimposition improves radiological assessment of curve flexibility in scoliosis. Eur Radiol 25:860–864CrossRefPubMed
13.
Cortes DH, Magland JF, Wright AC, Elliott DM (2014) The shear modulus of the nucleus pulposus measured using magnetic resonance elastography: a potential biomarker for intervertebral disc degeneration. Magn Reson Med 72:211–219CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
14.
Maquer G, Brandejsky V, Benneker LM, Watanabe A, Vermathen P, Zysset PK (2014) Human intervertebral disc stiffness correlates better with the Otsu threshold computed from axial T2 map of its posterior annulus fibrosus than with clinical classifications. Med Eng Phys 36:219–225CrossRefPubMed
15.
Streitberger K-J, Diederichs G, Guo J et al (2014) In vivo multifrequency magnetic resonance elastography of the human intervertebral disk. Magn Reson Med. doi:10.​1002/​mrm.​25505 PubMed
16.
Vergari C, Rouch P, Dubois G et al (2014) Non-invasive biomechanical characterization of intervertebral disc by shear wave elastography. Eur Radiol 24:3210–3216CrossRefPubMed
17.
Bercoff J, Tanter M, Fink M (2004) Supersonic shear imaging: a new technique for soft tissue elasticity mapping. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control 51:396–409CrossRefPubMed
18.
Royer D, Gennisson JL, Deffieux T, Tanter M (2011) On the elasticity of transverse isotropic soft tissues (L). J Acoust Soc Am 129:2757–2760CrossRefPubMed
19.
Vergari C, Rouch P, Dubois G et al (2014) Intervertebral disc characterization by shear wave elastography: an in-vitro preliminary study. Proc Inst Mech Eng H 228:607–615CrossRefPubMed
20.
Deswal A, Tamang BK, Bala A (2014) Study of aortic- common iliac bifurcation and its clinical significance. J Clin Diagn Res 8:AC06–AC08PubMedPubMedCentral
21.
Recuerda M, Cote SP, Villemure I, Preie D (2011) Influence of experimental protocols on the mechanical properties of the intervertebral disc in unconfined compression. J Biomech Eng 133:071006PubMed
22.
Costi JJ, Hearn TC, Fazzalari NL (2002) The effect of hydration on the stiffness of intervertebral discs in an ovine model. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 17:446–455CrossRef
23.
Hirsch C, Galante J (1967) Laboratory conditions for tensile tests in annulus fibrosus from human intervertebral discs. Acta Orthop Scand 38:148–162CrossRefPubMed
24.
Kuo YW, Wang JL (2010) Rheology of intervertebral disc: an ex vivo study on the effect of loading history, loading magnitude, fatigue loading, and disc degeneration. Spine 35:E743–E752CrossRefPubMed
25.
Wing P, Tsang I, Gagnon F, Susak L, Gagnon R (1992) Diurnal changes in the profile shape and range of motion of the back. Spine 17:761–766CrossRefPubMed
26.
Tyrrell AR, Reilly T, Troup JD (1985) Circadian variation in stature and the effects of spinal loading. Spine 10:161–164CrossRefPubMed
27.
Lacourpaille L, Hug F, Bouillard K, Hogrel J-Y, Nordez A (2012) Supersonic shear imaging provides a reliable measurement of resting muscle shear elastic modulus. Physiol Meas 33:N19CrossRefPubMed
28.
29.
30.
Wilson SR, Burns PN, Wilkinson LM, Simpson DH, Muradali D (1999) Gas at abdominal US: appearance, relevance, and analysis of artifacts. Radiology 210:113–123CrossRefPubMed
Metadata
Title
Lumbar annulus fibrosus biomechanical characterization in healthy children by ultrasound shear wave elastography
Authors
Claudio Vergari
Guillaume Dubois
Raphael Vialle
Jean-Luc Gennisson
Mickael Tanter
Jean Dubousset
Philippe Rouch
Wafa Skalli
Publication date
01-04-2016
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Radiology / Issue 4/2016
Print ISSN: 0938-7994
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1084
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3911-0

Other articles of this Issue 4/2016

European Radiology 4/2016 Go to the issue

Paediatric

Contrast-enhanced MRI of the knee in children unaffected by clinical arthritis compared to clinically active juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients

Breast

Elastographic features of triple negative breast cancers

Breast

Clinical utility of dual-energy contrast-enhanced spectral mammography for breast microcalcifications without associated mass: a preliminary analysis

Magnetic Resonance

A non-contrast self-navigated 3-dimensional MR technique for aortic root and vascular access route assessment in the context of transcatheter aortic valve replacement: proof of concept

Breast

Real-time virtual sonography examination and biopsy for suspicious breast lesions identified on MRI alone

Cardiac

Baseline MDCT findings after prosthetic heart valve implantation provide important complementary information to echocardiography for follow-up purposes