Don't you call me desiccated, J. Wellington Wimpy.

摘要

MR imaging of the lumbar spine often reveals disks with lower than normal signal intensity in the nucleus pulpo-sus without decreased disk height or abnormal contours of the annulus fibrosus. Characterizing these disks as "dehydrated," "desiccated," or "dark" suggests that they need only a little more water to functional normally. Without evidence of her-niation, protrusion, extrusion, or bulging, these disks meet the criteria for a stage III degenerated disk in the grading scale of Pfirrmann et al. Stage III is distinguished from stage I and II disks, which are normal disks, by consolidation of fibrous tissue in the nucleus pulposus, loss of annular-nuclear demarcation, and decreased T2 signal intensity in the nucleus pulposus.