Quantitative Chemical Shift Imaging of the lumbar spine in healthy volunteers

Gaucher disease is one of the most common lysosomal storage disorders. The
disease results from a deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme acid
beta-glucocerebrosidase. The disorder is characterized by accumulation of
macrophages filled with storage material in bone marrow, spleen and liver.
Consequent signs and symptoms are organomegaly, cytopenia and bone
complications.
The extent of bone marrow involvement in Gaucher disease can be measured by
Dixon*s Quantitative Chemical Shift Imaging (QCSI). This technique enables us
to separate the total MR signal into the contributions made by fat and water
and measures the relative contribution of the fat signal to the total signal.
It has become a valuable tool in the follow up of Gaucher patients in the
Academic Medical Centre of Amsterdam.
Bone marrow composition has been shown to be age-dependent, but the exact
contribution of this factor to the bone marrow fat fraction as assessed by QCSI
is yet unknown. A study by Ishijima et al suggests that bone marrow fat
fraction increases in males between the ages of 5 and 34 and remains relatively
stable thereafter. In women, bone marrow fat fraction is relatively stable
between the afges of 5 and 44 and shows a rapid increase in women more than 45
years old. It is important to know the effect of age on QCSI results in order
to enable a correct interpretation of the effect of treatment on bone marrow
infiltration by Gaucher cells.

To determine the effect of ageing on bone marrow fat fraction as assessed by
QCSI measurements

This will be a follow up study to a previous reproducability study in healthy
volunteers (MEC 96/028).

There are no significant risks associated with the intervention. The procedure
will require approximately 30 minutes in the 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner. This is a
non-invasive, non-ionizing imaging technique in which no contrast is used.