Intervertebral Disc MRI: T1/T2 Relaxometry and Strain in Human Cadavers

A collection of MRI-derived mechanical and structural measurements from human cadaveric intervertebral discs, produced by Deva Chan and hosted on Harvard Dataverse. It quantifies T1 and T2 relaxation times alongside in-plane strains and estimated shear modulus under physiological compression and bending loads.

Use Cases

• Comparing T1 and T2 relaxation times against relative shear modulus to identify imaging biomarkers
• Modeling the mechanical response of the nucleus pulposus versus the annulus fibrosus under bending loads
• Validating inverse analysis algorithms using multi-modal loading strain data

Strengths

• Includes dual-mode loading data for both compression and bending
• Provides paired T1/T2 relaxometry and mechanical strain measurements
• Differentiates between nucleus pulposus and annulus fibrosus regions

Limitations

• Small sample size inherent to human cadaveric studies
• Static measurements lack the longitudinal context of living tissue
• Potential post-mortem mechanical property variance compared to in vivo discs

Provenance

Source

Harvard Dataverse

Collection Method

Displacement-encoded MRI and quantitative relaxometry of human cadaveric discs under mechanical loading.

Freshness

Last updated March 2026.