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Updated: Feb 26, 2026
Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Chronic Spinal Cord Compression
Published on: May 7, 2019
The functional relevance of diffusion tensor imaging in comparison to conventional MRI in patients with cervical
Young-Mi Yang1, Woo-Kyoung Yoo2,3, Je Hyun Yoo4
1Spine Center, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, College of Medicine, Hallym University, 896 Pyeongchon-dong, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 431-070, South Korea.
Objective:
To determine the functional relevance of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics and conventional MRI (signal intensity change in T2, compression ratio) by measuring the correlation of these parameters with clinical outcome measured by the modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) score.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 20 cervical myelopathy (CM) patients participated in this prospective cohort study. The severities of CM were assessed using the mJOA score. Conventional MRIs (T2-weighted images) measuring the signal changes of spinal cords and the degree of compression at the lesion level and DTI metrics [fractional anisotropy (FA), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)] at each lesion and below each lesion (C7/T1) level were acquired using a 3-T Achieva MRI. These parameters were correlated with the mJOA scores to determine the functional relevance.
Results:
Ninety percent of CM patients showed signal changes and 30 % of patients noted a more than 40% canal compression ratio in conventional MRIs at the lesion level; however, these findings were not correlated with the mJOA score (p < 0.05). In contrast, FA values on DTI showed high sensitivity to CM (100%), which was well correlated with the mJOA score (p = 0.034, r = 0.475) below the lesion level (C7/T1).
Conclusions:
This study showed a meaningful symptomatic correlation between mJOA scores and FA values below the lesion levels in CM patients. It could give us more understanding of the pathological changes in spinal cords matched with various clinical findings in CM patients than the results from conventional MRI.
