Usefulness of the ProSet MRI for Diagnosis of the Extraforaminal Disc Herniation

ABSTRACT

STUDY DESIGN: This is a retrospective study. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to confirm the clinical usefulness of utilizing ProSet imaging for checking the nerve root compression and swelling in extraforaminal disc herniation. SUMMARY OF LITERATURE REVIEW Diagnosing extraforaminal disc herniations can be neglected with using a conventional MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on 25 patients, who underwent both conventional & Principles of the selective excitation technique (ProSet) MR imaging for the evaluation of extraforaminal disc herniation, from April 2008 to October 2010. Radiographic analysis was based on the notion that the degree of nerve root compression and swelling was decided by Pfirrmann's classification. RESULTS: Severe compression in the ProSet 3D rendering image was observed in 21 subjects, as compared with 8 subjects in the conventional axial image. Especially, nothing was ever detected in the conventional sagittal image. Severe compression in the ProSet 3D rendering image was observed in 4 subjects, while their nerve root compression was not clear in the conventional axial image. Severe compression and severe swelling in the ProSet 3D & coronal image was observed in 15 subjects, while their nerve root compression was none or not clear in the conventional sagittal image. The swelling degree of the ProSet coronal image turned out bigger than the swelling degree of conventional axial image, and the signal intensity change was also obvious. CONCLUSIONS: ProSet imaging is regarded useful to investigate the symptom triggering nerves, because ProSet image not only observes better nerve root compression, but also identifies the swelling degree more easily than that of the conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).