| Advanced Spinal Cord Imaging |
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Thursday 23 April 2009 |
| Room 313A |
10:30-12:30 |
Moderators: |
Claude H. Manelfe and Madja Thurnher |
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10:30 |
629. |
Feasibility of Evaluating the
Spinal Cord with MR Elastography |
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Scott A. Kruse1,
Arunark Kolipaka1, Armando Manduca1,
Richard L. Ehman1
1Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA |
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The goal of this work
was to investigate the feasibility of applying MR
Elastography to evaluate the spinal cord. An
acoustic driver device placed posterior to the spine
was evaluated in seven volunteer studies. An
inversion algorithm based on flexural vibration in
beams was used to process the wave data. The shear
stiffness of the superior portion of the spinal cord
was estimated to be 12.1+2.4 kPa in the
resulting elastograms, while the bulk stiffness of
the cauda equina estimated at 2.7+0.8 kPa.
This work may provide new parameters for
characterizing the spinal cord in health and
disease. |
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10:42 |
630. |
Structural and Hemodynamic
Mouse Spinal Cord Maturation Assessed by High
Resolution Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and
Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) |
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Virginie Callot1,
Guillaume Duhamel1, Patrick J. Cozzone1
1UMR 6612 CNRS, Université de la Méditerranée,
Centre de Résonance Magnétique Biologique et
Médicale (CRMBM), Marseille, France |
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The early organization
of the spinal cord (SC) gray and white matter is not
well described although important for the
sensory-motor development. In this work, we
performed a preliminary DTI and ASL-based perfusion
study on mice, from weanling to young adult age, to
investigate whether the MR methods would be
sensitive enough to assess evolving structural and
hemodynamic patterns. High-resolution quantitative
images have been obtained and sensitivity was
sufficient to observe evolution of the metrics with
time. The capability of measuring non-invasively
developmental changes in spinal cord should help as
a basis for understanding atypical spine development
and spine diseases. |
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10:54 |
631. |
Quantitative Evaluation of
Diffusion Tensor Imaging at 3T in the Cervical
Spinal Cord of Patients with Adrenomyeloneuropathy |
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Aliya Gifford1,
Seth A. Smith2,3, Ali Fatemi1,2,
SakkuBai Naidu2,4, Peter C. van Zijl2,3,
Gerald V. Raymond1,4
1Department of Neurogenetics, Kennedy Krieger
Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA; 2F.M.
Kirby Research Center, Kennedy Krieger Institute,
Baltimore, MD, USA; 3Russel H. Morgan
Department of Radiology and Radiological Science,
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine,
Baltimore, MD, USA; 4Department of
Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA |
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Diffusion tensor imaging
(DTI) may be sensitive to changes in tissue
microstructure and therefore is useful in
quantitatively assessing pathway-specific changes
known, pathologically, to exist in the cervical
spinal cord of adrenomyeloneuropathy patients. We
acquired DTI of the cervical cord in nine healthy
volunteers and twenty AMN patients. Lateral and
dorsal columns were reconstructed and DTI-derived
metrics analyzed for the C1-C3 cervical segment.
Results show an increase in perpendicular
diffusivity from 0.52 (controls) to 0.57 (AMN)
(P<0.3). These observations are in agreement with
expectations from pathology indicating demyelination,
suggesting that quantitative DTI analysis may
enhance clinical evaluation of this disease. |
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11:06 |
632. |
High-Resolution in Vivo MR
Imaging of the Human Spinal Cord at 7 Tesla |
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Kyongtae Ty Bae1,2,
Chan-Hong Moon1, Jung-Hwan Kim1,
Sung-Hong Park1,2
1Radiology, University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 2Bioengineering,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
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We have developed MR
surface coil and imaging technique suitable for
high-resolution human spinal cord imaging at 7 T.
Our method was applied to depiction of the gray (GM)
and white matter (WM) of the cervical spinal cord on
T1-weighted inversion recovery image which is
reported superior to other sequences for the
evaluation of spinal cord lesions in multiple
sclerosis. Preliminary results indicate spinal cord
imaging at 7T allows excellent visualization and
differentiation of GM and WM due to greatly
increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). |
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11:18 |
633. |
Diffusion-Weighted Imaging of
the Spine with Readout-Segmented (RS)-EPI |
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Samantha J.
Holdsworth1, Roland Bammer1,
Stefan Skare1
1Lucas MRS/I Center, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA, USA |
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The development of
diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the spine has
been hindered by the large off-resonance effects
problematic for single-shot EPI. Interleaved EPI can
be used to reduce image artifacts, however, in the
presence of motion, it can lead to undersampling of
k-space and corresponding image ghosting.
Readout-segmented (RS)-EPI has recently been shown
to be a promising alternative pulse sequence for
high-resolution DWI of the human brain, which has
significantly reduced distortions. The objective of
this study was to compare DW images acquired with
RS-EPI and EPI. Here we produce images with
significantly reduced distortions compared with EPI,
and demonstrate distortion-corrected RS-EPI spine
data. |
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11:30 |
634. |
Effect of VEGF Treatment on
the Blood-Spinal Cord Barrier Permeability in
Experimental Spinal Cord Injury: Dynamic
Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging |
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Chirag B. Patel1,
David M. Cohen1, Pallavi Ahobila-Vajjula1,
Laura M. Sundberg1, Tessy Chacko1,
Ponnada A. Narayana1
1Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging,
University of Texas Health Science Center at
Houston, Houston, TX, USA |
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Compromised blood-spinal
cord barrier (BSCB) is a factor in the outcome
following spinal cord injury (SCI). Vascular
endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promotes
angiogenesis and vascular permeability. Dynamic
contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) studies were
performed to track spatiotemporal changes in BSCB
permeability following acute administration of VEGF
in SCI. BSCB permeability was greater at all time
points in VEGF-treated animals compared to controls.
VEGF hastened neurobehavioral recovery by day 28
post-SCI but this improvement did not persist by day
56 post-SCI. Changes in the BSCB permeability do not
appear to be the primary driving factors for VEGF's
observed treatment effects in SCI. |
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11:42 |
635. |
Radial Fractional Anisotropy
Mean and Angular Fractional Anisotropy Mean: New
Tools in the Diagnosis and Assessment of Spinal Cord |
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Arturo
Cárdenas-Blanco1,2, Harrison Westwick1,2,
Kareem Andre Moran3, Eve Chung Tsai2,4
1Division of Neuroscience, Ottawa Health
Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; 2University
of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; 3Medical
School, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada; 4Neurosurgery, Ottawa Hospital,
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
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During the last years,
Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) has become the
preferred tool to analyze white matter properties in
spinal cord by depicting qualitatively its response
to the presence of pathological lesions. In this
abstract a new approach to quantitatively assess
spinal cord tissue is proposed. This approach is
based in the measurement of Radial Fractional
Anisotropy Mean (RFAM) and Angular Fractional
Anisotropy Mean (AFAM) values which depict the
changes in fractional anisotropy mean values as a
function of the distance from the centre of the
spinal cord and the angle respectively. |
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11:54 |
636. |
In Vivo Diffusion
Tensor Imaging in Rat Model of Chronic Spinal Cord
Compression |
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Matthew Man Hin
Cheung1,2, Darrell T.H. Li3,
Edward S. Hui1,2, Abby Y. Ding1,2,
Yong Hu3, Ed X. Wu1,2
1Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
SAR, China; 2Laboratory of Biomedical
Imaging and Signal Processing , The University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; 3Department
of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, The University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China |
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We have employed DTI to
investigate the pathophysiology of chronic spinal
cord compression in this study. Average diffusion
characteristic curves and fiber tracking have been
done to evaluate the lesion and intact regions. DTI
is sensitive to the damage and it is potential to
monitor the progressive structural and functional
changes in such chronic spinal cord diseases. |
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12:06 |
637. |
In Vivo MRS Monitor
Delayed Neurodegeneration in Experimental Spinal
Cord Injury |
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Junchao Qian1,
Juan Herrera1, Ponnada Narayana1
1Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging,
University of Texas at Houston, Houston, TX, USA |
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In vivo proton
MRS studies were performed in injured spinal cord at
two weeks post-injury. Spectra were acquired at the
epicenter, rostral and caudal to the site of injury.
A reduction in the NAA levels was observed at all
the three segments. This study demonstrates delayed
neurodegeneration away from the epicenter of injury. |
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12:18 |
638. |
Evaluation of Q-Ball Metrics
for Assessing the Integrity of the Injured Spinal
Cord |
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Julien Cohen-Adad1,2,
Hugues Leblond2, Aurobrata Ghosh3,
Maxime Descoteaux4, Rachid Deriche3,
Habib Benali1, Serge Rossignol2
1INSERM, Univ Paris 6, Pitie Salpetriere
Hospital, Paris, France; 2GRSNC,
Physiology department, Univ Montreal, Montreal, QC,
Canada; 3Odyssée Project Team, INRIA,
Sophia Antipolis, France; 4Neurospin, NMR
Lab, CEA, Gif-sur-Yvette, France |
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Previous studies showed
how metrics derived from diffusion tensor imaging
(DTI) are useful to quantify spinal cord integrity
following injury. However, DTI model may not be
optimal for complex diffusion profiles, where less
constraining techniques such as q-ball imaging (QBI)
would be more adapted. In this study, we applied QBI
in cats with partial spinal cord injury and we
compared various QBI quantitative metrics to that
ones already used in DTI. We also propose an
original QBI-based metric to quantify the
homogeneity of diffusion directions. Results show
the benefits of QBI metrics to quantitatively study
spinal cord microstructure. |
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