Abstract:
Introduction: Spinal cord lesions are often devastating. Clinical syndrome caused by a spinal
injury includes paralysis of the limbs and trunk, with sensory disturbance and dysfunction of the
gastrointestinal and genitourinary sphincters. Spinal lesions sometimes remain insufficiently
visualized by conventional MRI, therefore it is an important region of interest in biomedical
research. DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) tractography is a quantitative MRI technique that can
visualize the white matter tracts in vivo, so it can be useful in diagnosing spinal cord injury.
Purpose and objectives: To assess the feasibility and clinical value of MRI 3.0 T
tractography for evaluating spinal cord injury.
Materials and Methods: Imaging was performed on total of 10 subjects: 7 patients with
suspected pathology of the spine (ischemic, tumorous, degenerative) and 3 healthy volunteers.
Imaging was performed at 3.0 T MRI (Siemens Skyra) with tractography reconstruction. Regions of
interest were defined manually and measured on apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and
fractional anisotropy (FA) maps.
Results: In one patient with ependymoma tractography showed displacement of the fibers,
one patient with traumatic spinal cord-interruption of the fibers, two patients with spinal
com pression-local fiber tracts were compressed, 3 patients with ischemic lesions-insignificant
interruption of fibers. In 3 volunteers the white matter tracts were normal. All patients had
decreased FA values and increased ADC values at the affected spinal segments (which suggest fiber
damage) and relatively normal FA values and ADC values cranial and caudal o f the lesion (which
suggest that the lesion is much smaller that showed on the conventional MRI).
