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Using prospectively acquired T2-relaxometry data from 606 intervertebral discs in 101 volunteers without back pain in a narrow age range (25–35 years), the authors calculated intra- and intersubject variation in T2 times of IVDs graded by 2 neuroradiologists on the Pfirrmann scale. Intrasubject variation of IVDs was assessed relative to other healthy IVDs (Pfirrmann grade, #2) in the same individual. Multiple intersubject variability measures were calculated using healthy extraneous references ranging from a single randomly selected IVD to all healthy extraneous IVDs, without and with segmental stratification. They conclude that the study demonstrates a significantly higher variation in the T2 times of IVDs across subjects, and suggests that normative measures based on the T2 times of healthy lumbar IVDs from the same individual are likely to provide the most discriminating means of identifying degenerated IVDs on the basis of T2 relaxometry.