Canine Intervertebral Disc Degeneration MTR Values and Pfirrmann Grades

181 intervertebral discs from 9 chondrodystrophic and non-chondrodystrophic dogs were graded via the Pfirrmann scale and had magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) values measured. This pilot study by Charlène Paquet, last updated in April 2026, explores MTR as a quantitative tool for assessing disc degeneration, correlating imaging with macroscopic and histological evaluation.

Use Cases

• Correlating quantitative MRI biomarkers with qualitative degeneration grades based on Pfirrmann scores.
• Developing objective diagnostic tools for canine intervertebral disc disease based on magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) values.
• Validating imaging findings against histological and macroscopic evaluations of disc tissue.
• Reducing inter-observer variability in assessing spinal pathology using quantitative MRI metrics.

Strengths

• Includes 181 intervertebral disc samples, providing a basis for statistical analysis.
• Correlates three assessment methods: MRI (MTR), macroscopic (Thompson grade), and histological staining.
• Explicitly compares two canine groups (chondrodystrophic and non-chondrodystrophic) across various breeds.
• Released under a permissive CC-BY-4.0 license for reuse.

Limitations

• Dataset is extremely small at 50.0 B, indicating very limited scope or summary-level data.
• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, requiring manual inspection after download.
• The study is a pilot and notes that in vivo validation remains necessary.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Charlène Paquet.

Collection Method

MRI acquisitions performed post-mortem on harvested spinal columns, with discs graded and MTR values measured.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-21 17:23:19; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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