Tracking the neurodegenerative gradient after spinal cord injury.

NeuroImage. Clinical
Michela AzzaritoPatrick Freund

Abstract

To quantify neurodegenerative changes along the cervical spinal cord rostral to a spinal cord injury (SCI) by means of quantitative MRI (qMRI) and to determine its relationship with clinical impairment. Thirty chronic SCI patients (15 tetraplegics and 15 paraplegics) and 23 healthy controls underwent a high-resolution T1-weighted and myelin-sensitive magnetization transfer (MT) MRI. We assessed macro- and microstructural changes along the cervical cord from levels C1 to C4, calculating cross-sectional spinal cord area, its anterior-posterior and left-right width and myelin content (i.e. MT). Regression analysis determined associations between qMRI parameters and clinical impairment. In SCI patients, cord area decreased by 2.67 mm2 (p = 0.004) and left-right width decreased by 0.35 mm (p = 0.002) per cervical cord level in the caudal direction when compared to the healthy controls. This gradient of neurodegeneration was greater in tetraplegic than paraplegics in the cross-sectional cervical cord area (by 3.28 mm2, p = 0.011), left-right width (by 0.36 mm, p = 0.03), and mean cord MT (by 0.13%, p = 0.04), but independant of lesion severity (p > 0.05). Higher lesion level was associated with greater magnitudes of neurodegeneration...Continue Reading

Citations

May 28, 2021·Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry·Sreenath P KyathanahallyPatrick Freund
Jul 17, 2021·Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports·Simon SchadingPatrick Freund
Oct 8, 2021·Current Opinion in Neurology·Dario Pfyffer, Patrick Freund

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