Assessment of gadolinium leakage into traumatic spinal cord lesion using magnet resonance imaging

Exploratory study in patients with acute spinal cord trauma using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The aim of this study was to assess the leakage of Gd-DTPA into traumatic lesions of the human spinal cord using MRI.

While MRI of acute spinal cord trauma is a routine type of clinical investigation, the time course of Gd-DTPA enhancement in traumatic spinal cord injury is not known.

In early stage after spinal cord injury (<24 hours) and at follow-up on day 4, 7, 14, 21, 28, and 84, the accumulation of Gd-DTPA within 30 minutes after bolus injection was investigated in sagittal and axial T2-weighted images and T1-weighted images.

In 4 men aged between 23 and 55 years with severe paraparesis, the traumatic spinal cord lesion had a maximum of spatial extent after 7 days. Gd-enhancement was first detected on day 4 in T1-weighted images, was most pronounced between day 7 and 28 but absent on day 84. The Gd-enhancement progressively increased in intensity after intravenous injection between 5 and 10 minutes when a maximum was reached, which remained stable for up to 30 minutes.

We used MRI to study the dynamics of post-traumatic Gd-DTPA leakage into the injured spinal cord. This appears as a promising approach for monitoring the local secondary lesion changes.