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Updated: Mar 16, 2026
Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Chronic Spinal Cord Compression
Published on: May 7, 2019
Reduced FOV diffusion tensor MR imaging and fiber tractography of pediatric cervical spinal cord injury
M Alizadeh1,2,3, A Intintolo1,2, D M Middleton1,2,3
1Department of Bioengineering, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Insights
Pediatric spinal cord diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography (DTT) can quantify spinal cord injury (SCI). Results show reduced white matter integrity in SCI patients compared to healthy controls.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Biomedical Engineering
- Pediatric Neurology
Background:
- Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) are advanced MRI techniques.
- Assessing pediatric spinal cord injury (SCI) requires sensitive imaging methods.
- Reduced field of view DTI can generate DTT for pediatric spinal cord analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of pediatric spinal cord DTT derived from reduced field of view DTI.
- To compare DTT-derived quantitative parameters between typically developing (TD) children and those with SCI.
- To determine if DTT can serve as a biomarker for pediatric SCI.
Main Methods:
- A quantitative study involving 20 pediatric subjects (10 TD, 10 SCI).
- MRI scans were acquired using a 3.0T scanner.
- Key DTI parameters (FA, ADC) and fiber tracking metrics (tract length, density) were calculated.
Main Results:
- Spinal cord injury (SCI) patients exhibited significantly reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) and tract density compared to controls.
- SCI subjects showed increased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values and fiber tract length, though not statistically significant for these two metrics.
- Tractography visually demonstrated less abundant and organized white matter in SCI patients.
Conclusions:
- Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) are effective for quantifying spinal cord injury in pediatric patients.
- These imaging techniques can serve as surrogate markers for visualizing and measuring the extent of spinal cord damage.
- DTT shows promise in differentiating between healthy and injured pediatric spinal cords.
Study Design:
Quantitative study.
Objectives:
To evaluate the effectiveness of pediatric spinal cord diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) generated from reduced field of view diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data and investigate whether there are differences in these values between typically developing (TD) subjects and patients with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Setting:
Temple University Hospital and Shriners Hospitals for Children-Philadelphia, USA.
Methods:
A total of 20 pediatric subjects including 10 healthy subjects (age 15.13±3.51 years (mean±s.d.) and age range 11-21 years) and 10 subjects with SCI in the cervical area (age 13.8±3.26 years and age range 8-20 years) were recruited, and scanned using a 3.0T MR scanner. Quantitative parameters of DTI and fiber tracking, such as mean fractional anisotropy (FA), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), mean length of fiber tracts and tract density, were calculated for each subject.
Results:
Subjects with SCI showed reduced FA and tract density, and increased ADC values and length of fiber tracts, compared with controls. Statistically significant differences were seen in FA (P=0.0238) and tract density (P=0.0005) between controls and subjects with SCI, whereas there were no significant differences in ADC values and length of fiber tracts. The tractography visually showed that the white matter tracts (blue color) of the SCI patients were overall less abundant and less organized compared with control cases.
Conclusion:
The results show that DTI and DTT could be used as surrogate markers for quantification and visualization of the injured spinal cord.
