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Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Chronic Spinal Cord Compression
Published on: May 7, 2019
Image correction for diffusion tensor imaging of Rhesus monkey thoracic spinal cord
Jia-Sheng Rao1,2, Zuxiang Liu3,4,5, Can Zhao2,6
1Beijing Key Laboratory for Biomaterials and Neural Regeneration, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China.
Background:
The relatively tiny spinal cord of non-human primate (NHP) causes increased challenge in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) post-processing. This study aimed to establish a reliable correction strategy applied to clinical DTI images of NHP.
Methods:
Six normal and partial spinal cord injury (SCI) rhesus monkeys underwent 3T MR scanning. A correction strategy combining multiple iterations and non-rigid deformation was used for DTI image post-processing. Quantitative evaluations were then conducted to investigate effects of distortion correction.
Results:
After correction, longitudinal geometric distortion, global distortion, and residual distance errors were all significantly decreased (P < 0.05). Fractional anisotropy at the injured site was remarkably lower than that at the contralateral site (P = 0.0488) and was substantially lower than those at the adjacent superior (P = 0.0157) and inferior (P = 0.0128) areas at the same side.
Conclusions:
Our image correction strategy can improve the quality of the DTI images of NHP thoracic cords, contributing to the development of SCI preclinical research.
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