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Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the detection of cervical spinal cord integrity alterations in different stages of degenerative spine disease, as well as to compare DTI parameters with selected cervical spinal stenosis measurements. Methods One hundred and thirty-two symptomatic patients (mean age 53.58 years) with different stages of cervical spondylosis and twenty-five control subjects (mean age 45.78 years) were enrolled in the study. DTI was performed with a 1.5 T MR scanner. Three hundred and forty-nine spine segments from C2/C3 to C5/C6 were evaluated and divided into five groups according to the degree of spinal cord compression. The values of fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient at each level were calculated and their correlations with the degree of stenosis were analyzed.Results FA values differed significantly (p \ 0.0001) at all levels between the control group and patients with cervical degenerative disease, including subjects without spinal cord compression visible on plain MR images. A significant (p \ 0.01) positive correlation between the mean FA values and anteroposterior diameter of the spinal canal as well as space available for the spinal cord index was demonstrated at all investigated levels. Conclusion DTI is capable of revealing impairment of the cervical spinal cord microstructure at the very early stage of degenerative spine disease, even prior to spinal cord compression visible on plain MR. Anteroposterior spinal canal diameter as well as space available for the cord index is well related to spinal cord tissue integrity defined by DTI.

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In the article we review the current role of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a modern magnetic resonance (MR) technique, in the diagnosis and the management of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), the most serious complication of degenerative cervical spine disease (DCSD). The pathogenesis of DCSD is presented first with an emphasis placed on the pathological processes leading to myelopathy development. An understanding of the pathophysiological background of DCSD is necessary for appropriate interpretation of MR images, both plain and DTI. Conventional MRI is currently the imaging modality of choice in DCSD and provides useful information concerning the extent of spondylotic changes and degree of central spinal canal stenosis; however its capability in myelopathy detection is limited. DTI is a state of the art imaging method which recently has emerged in spinal cord investigations and has the potential to detect microscopic alterations which are beyond the capability of plain MRI. In the article we present the physical principles underlying DTI which determine its sensitivity, followed by an overview of technical aspects of DTI acquisition with a special consideration of spinal cord imaging. Finally, the scientific reports concerning DTI utility in DSCD are also reviewed. DTI detects spinal cord injury in the course of DCSD earlier than any other method and could be useful in predicting surgical outcomes in CMS patients, however technical and methodology improvement as well as standardization of acquisition protocols and postprocessing methods among the imaging centers are needed before its implementation in clinical practice.

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