Diffusion Tensor MR Imaging of the Neurologically Intact Human Spinal Cord

Ellingson, Benjamin M.; Ulmer, John L.; Kurpad, Shekar N.; Schmit, Brian D.

doi:10.3174/ajnr.a1064

Cited by 69 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 22 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…However, to draw reliable conclusions, the importance of these changes needs to be validated through studies involving a larger patient group. The mean normal FA and ADC values of the thoracic spinal cord observed in our study are different from the values quoted in the literature (10)(11)(12). The difference in the values could be due to the different pulse sequences, techniques of image acquisition and different methods of placing the ROI (free hand versus circular, single versus multiple, grey matter versus white matter etc).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Diffusion tensor tractography demonstration of partially injured spinal cord tracts in a patient with posttraumatic brown sequard syndrome

Rajasekaran

Kanna

Rajamanickam

et al. 2010

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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The authors report the utility of diffusion tensor tractography in demonstrating the partially severed spinal cord tracts on one side with normal, intact, distally traceable tracts on the opposite side in a patient with posttraumatic Brown Sequard syndrome. A 30-year-old man presented with typical clinical features of a hemisection injury of the thoracic spinal cord, 2 months after he had sustained a back stab injury. Routine MRI showed T2 hyperintense zones in the thoracic spinal cord at the level of T5. We did axial single shot echo planar diffusion tensor imaging with a 1.5 Tesla MR machine. Tractography effectively depicted the injured spinal cord tracts on the left side with normal intact tracts on the right side, which could be traced distally. The fractional anisotropy and apparent diffusion coefficient values showed significant changes at the level of injury. Tractographic demonstration of human spinal cord injury is reported for the first time.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Diffusion tensor tractography demonstration of partially injured spinal cord tracts in a patient with posttraumatic brown sequard syndrome

Rajasekaran

Kanna

Rajamanickam

et al. 2010

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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“…This pattern is similar to that reported in other studies involving adult subjects. 20,37 2) The geometric shape of the diffusion tensor is assumed to be ellipsoid and the 3 eigenvalues ( 1 , 2 , and 3 ) corresponding to diffusivities along the principal axes of the diffusion tensor are sorted in the order 1 Ͼ Ͼ 2 ϳ 3 . In a highly anisotropic axonal-shaped medium, AD represents diffusivity along the primary axis of the diffusion tensor parallel to the spinal cord tracts (AD ϭ 1 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While studies on diffusion imaging of the spinal cord in adults, 7,20,21 as well as in animal models [22][23][24][25] have been reported, a comprehensive study of the pediatric spinal cord that examines the accuracy and reproducibility of DTI measures has not yet been reported. The investigation of normative data of spinal cord DTI represents an additional important area of inquiry.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Normal Pediatric Spinal Cord Using an Inner Field of View Echo-Planar Imaging Sequence

Barakat¹,

Mohamed²,

Hunter³

et al. 2012

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol

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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: DTI in the brain has been well established, but its application in the spinal cord, especially in pediatrics, poses several challenges. The small cord size has inherent low SNR of the diffusion signal intensity, respiratory and cardiac movements induce artifacts, and EPI sequences used for obtaining diffusion indices cause eddy-current distortions. The purpose of this study was to 1) evaluate the accuracy of cervical spinal cord DTI in children using a newly developed iFOV sequence with spatially selective 2D-RF excitations, and 2) examine reproducibility of the DTI measures.

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“…These studies are well summarized in various review articles (13,14); therefore, an examination of each study and their findings will not be discussed in great detail. Previous studies of DTI or diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the uninjured spinal cord show relatively good agreement in measurements of apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) between pulse sequences (15) for b-values less than 1500 s/mm 2 . Previous studies are also in agreement with respect to the diffusion characteristics of the traumatic lesion epicenter, which typically illustrate a dramatic increase in ADCs and decrease in diffusion anisotropy during recovery from SCI in humans (16 -20), in vivo animal models (1,(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), and ex vivo spinal cord preparations (26,27).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ex vivo diffusion tensor imaging and quantitative tractography of the rat spinal cord during long‐term recovery from moderate spinal contusion

Ellingson

Kurpad

Schmit

2008

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

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Purpose: To characterize DTI metric changes throughout the length of the entire spinal cord from the acute through chronic stages of spinal cord injury (SCI). Materials and Methods:Ex vivo DTI was performed at 9.4 Tesla to examine changes in water diffusion throughout the entire spinal cord (7-cm) up to 25 weeks after injury in a rat model of contusive SCI. Animals were grouped according to recovery times after injury (2, 5, 15, 20, or 25 weeks), and various DTI metrics were evaluated including transverse and longitudinal apparent diffusion coefficient (tADC and lADC), mean diffusivity (MD), and fractional anisotropy (FA).Results: An overall decrease in lADC throughout the cord and decreases in MD remote from the lesion site were observed, along with an increase in tADC within fiber tracts throughout the recovery period. These trends were statistically significant at P Ͻ 0.05 and were found in both white and gray matter regions. tADC and lADC distributions in fiber bundles extracted using DTI tractography were well fit by an exponential model (R ϭ 0.998) with time constants of 4.6 and 3.3 days, respectively. Conclusion:Results from the current study support the hypothesis that the spinal cord undergoes continual changes during recovery from SCI.

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Diffusion Tensor MR Imaging of the Neurologically Intact Human Spinal Cord

Cited by 69 publications

References 22 publications

Diffusion tensor tractography demonstration of partially injured spinal cord tracts in a patient with posttraumatic brown sequard syndrome

Diffusion tensor tractography demonstration of partially injured spinal cord tracts in a patient with posttraumatic brown sequard syndrome

Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Normal Pediatric Spinal Cord Using an Inner Field of View Echo-Planar Imaging Sequence

Ex vivo diffusion tensor imaging and quantitative tractography of the rat spinal cord during long‐term recovery from moderate spinal contusion

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