Spinal Cord
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Thursday 10 May 2012
Room 212-213  13:30 - 15:30 Moderators: David B. Hackney, Claudia A. Wheeler-Kingshot

13:30 0614.   
Quantitative Magnetization Transfer Imaging of Human Cervical Spinal Cord at 7 Tesla
Richard D. Dortch1,2, Adrienne N. Dula1,2, Ke Li1,2, Jane A. Hirtle2, Catherine E. Frame2,3, Pooja Gaur2,4, John C. Gore1,2, and Seth A. Smith1,2
1Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States, 2Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States, 3Radiation Oncology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States, 4Chemical and Physical Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States

 
Magnetization transfer (MT) imaging has been used to assess macromolecular content in the brain; yet, similar studies in the spinal cord have been limited. The difficulties associated with spinal cord imaging include high-resolution demands. Therefore, we have developed a novel protocol for high-resolution quantitative MT imaging of the human cervical spinal cord at 7 T. Data were collected in healthy volunteers via a selective inversion recovery sequence. Macromolecular to free proton pool size ratios were consistent with reported values at lower field strengths, suggesting that qMT imaging can be performed in the human cervical spinal cord at ultra-high field.

 
13:42 0615.   
Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Flow Suppressed Spinal Cord Functional MRI Using Multi-slice DANTE-EPI
Linqing Li1, Yazhuo Kong1, Jonathan Brooks1, Karla Miller1, and Peter Jezzard1
1FMRIB, Clinical Neurology Department, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

 
DANTE pulse trains (a rapid series of low flip angle RF pulses interspersed with gradients) can attenuate moving CSF signal and preserve most of the static tissue signal. Here, we propose a method that employs DANTE preparation for CSF flow suppression in multi-slice spinal cord fMRI. Compared to a conventional EPI spinal cord sequence, the temporal variance within the spinal cord was decreased. Improved activation patterns were observed using a block-design finger tapping task.

 
13:54 0616.   Multimodal spinal cord MRI for temporal characterization of posttraumatic vascular, metabolic and structural events in a mouse model of spinal cord injury.
Virginie Callot1, Mohamed Tachrount1, Jérôme Laurin2, André Mauès de Paula3, Tanguy Marqueste2, Patrick Decherchi2, Patrick J Cozzone1, and Guillaume Duhamel1
1CRMBM, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Univ, Marseille, France, 2ISM, CNRS, Aix-Marseille Univ, Marseille, France, 3Service d’Anatomie Pathologique, Hôpital de la Timone, AP-HM, Marseille, France

 
In this work, a multimodal MRI approach, including diffusion tensor imaging, perfusion imaging and MR spectroscopy, was applied in a follow-up study dedicated to the characterization of posttraumatic events consecutive to moderate and severe mouse spinal cord contusion injury. Vascular, structural and metabolic MR parameters were observed to vary with a time course and a spatial extent dependant on the impact force, and in correlation with immunohistochemistry and developed force. The sensitivity and specificity of the proposed MR multimodal approach should help to define the most relevant markers of disease and progression. Moreover, discriminant analysis should permit to establish diagrams describing the cascade of posttraumatic events.

 
14:06 0617.   Spinal Cord Displacement is Increased in Subjects with Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy Compared to Controls
Irene M Vavasour1, Sandra M Meyers2, Erin L MacMillan3, Burkhard Maedler4, David KB Li1, Marcel F Dvorak5,6, Talia Vertinsky7, Vic Venu7, Alexander Rauscher8, Alex L MacKay1,2, and Armin Curt9
1Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 3Clinical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, 4Neurosurgery, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany, 5Orthopaedics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 6International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries (ICORD), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 7Radiology, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 8UBC MRI Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 9Spinal Cord Injury Center, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

 
With cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM), spinal cord (SC) damage is caused by narrowing (“stenosis”) of the spinal canal. The relationship between cord motion and CSM symptoms are unknown. Thirteen CSM subjects and 15 controls underwent velocity imaging using 3D phase-contrast around the stenosis or C5. Tibial and ulnar nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) were also measured. Displacement was significantly different between controls and CSM subjects. No significant correlations were found between displacement and clinical scores, however, abnormal SSEP was associated with increased SC movement. Increased SC motion may relate to underlying pathophysiological mechanisms that contribute to SC function deterioration.

 
14:18 0618.   Frequency Mapping in the Spinal Cord with WASSR at 3 Tesla
Issel Anne L. Lim1,2, Ann S. Choe3,4, Xu Li2,5, Craig K. Jones2,5, and Peter C. M. van Zijl2,5
1Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 2F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 3International Center for Spinal Cord Injury, Hugo Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger Inc, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 4Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 5Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

 
A primary component of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is determining the resonance frequency per voxel. In the spinal cord, obtaining frequency maps from phase images via traditional gradient echo imaging (GRE) is complicated due to low SNR and many phase wraps at tissue interfaces of large susceptibility differences. By measuring resonance frequency maps with the WAter Saturation Shift Referencing (WASSR) method and fitting the resulting signal as a function of offset frequency to a Lorentzian lineshape, voxel frequencies can be determined without the need for phase unwrapping. WASSR allowed good quality frequency maps to be obtained in the spinal cord.

 
14:30 0619.   In vivo longitudinal Myelin Water Imaging in rat spinal cord following Dorsal Column transection injury
Paulina Rosicka1,2, Jie Liu3, Andrew C. Yung4, Wolfram Tetzlaff3, and Piotr Kozlowski3,4
1Institute of Nuclear Physics, Krakow, Poland, 2UBC MRI Research Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 3ICORD, 4UBC MRI Research Centre

 
Myelin water imaging was carried out in rat spinal cords in vivo. CPMG data were acquired from 10 rats 3 weeks and 8 weeks following dorsal column trancection injury and ex vivo. Average Myelin Water Fraction was measured in fasciculus gracilis 5 mm cranial to injury and correlated with histology. MWF increased at 3 weeks post injury and returned to baseline levels at 8 weeks post injury. Eriochrome stain (EC) showed similar trend, while dgen-MBP (dye staining degenerated myelin) showed increased values between 3 and 8 weeks post-injury. MWF values correlated well with EC stain, but not with the dgen-MBP stain.

 
14:42 0620.   Glutamate-Glutamine detection using 1H MRS in the human cervical spinal cord at 3T
Bhavana Shantilal Solanky1, Khaled Abdel-Aziz2, Marios Yiannakas1, Olga Ciccarelli2, and Claudia A. M. Wheeler-Kingshott1
1NMR Research Unit, Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom, 2NMR Research Unit, Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitaion, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom

 
Here we demonstrate quantitative measurements of the Glutamate/Glutamine complex (Glx) in the cervical spinal cord of healthy controls using 1H MRS at 3T. Sequences readily available were compared for the measure of Glutamate and Glx in the spinal cord, a challenging region of interest due to its small volume, B0 inhomogeneities, and physiological motion. A short TE PRESS, and STEAM sequence were both tested. LCmodel was used to obtain measures for the reliability of the Glx fit (CRLB %) and concentrations. A reliable fit was found in all subjects using PRESS (CRLB<20%). No reliable Glx fits were achieved using STEAM.

 
14:54 0621.   In Vivo Human Spinal Cord Diffusion Tensor Imaging Using Rician Noise Filter
Dhanashree Vernekar1, Wenshu Qian1, Zhongping Zhang1, Pek-Lan Khong1, and Mina Kim1
1Department of Diagnostic Radiology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

 
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been used to successfully show changes in white matter structure and connectivity in spinal cord of patients with various diseases. However, spinal cord DTI is still in its infancy due to technical challenges including intrinsically low signal-to-noise ratio. Here we propose to use a nonlocal means Rician noise filter to enhance the accuracy of tensor estimation and obtain robust DTI-derived measures. Our results show that Rician denoising can significantly decrease erroneous tensor estiamtions with reduced mean Chi-square up to 43% over without Rician denoising.

 
15:06 0622.   A VOXEL-BASED ASSESSMENT OF CERVICAL CORD DAMAGE IN MS PATIENTS
Paola Valsasina1, Maria A. Rocca2, Dusan Damjanovic2, Sarlota Mesaros3, Mark A. Horsfield4, Tatjana Stosic-Opincal5, Jelena Drulovic3, Giancarlo Comi6, and Massimo Filippi1
1Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, Italy, 2Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, 3Clinic of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 4Medical Physics Group, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom, 5Clinic of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Yugoslavia,6Department of Neurology, San Raffaele Scientific Institute and Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, Italy

 
We applied an active surface method to perform a voxel-based analysis of cervical cord atrophy and lesion location in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and different phenotypes. Sagittal dual-echo and MP-RAGE cervical cord scans were acquired from 89 MS patients and 31 healthy controls [HC]. Patients with clinically isolated syndrome showed no cord atrophy, while primary-progressive (PP) MS had diffuse cord atrophy vs. HC. Several clusters of cord atrophy were found in secondary-progressive MS vs. relapsing-remitting MS, benign MS, and PPMS. Cord lesions were more frequent in the posterior cord portion and in the cord segments from C1 to C4.

 
15:18 0623.   Feasibility Study of 23Na MRS in the cervical spinal cord
Bhavana Shantilal Solanky1, Frank Riemer1, Xavier Golay2, and Claudia A. M. Wheeler-Kingshott1
1NMR Research Unit, Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, Greater London, United Kingdom, 2Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, Greater London, United Kingdom

 
The potential of following the dynamics of sodium ions in diseased populations provides a huge drive for the development of quantitative sodium MRI in the brain. Many diseases also potentially involve sodium channels in other areas of the central nervous system (CNS), such as the spinal cord. However, due to the intrinsically low signal to noise of sodium images and the small size of spinal cord sodium MRI here is lacking. Here we investigate the feasibility of sodium MR Spectroscopy (MRS) in the cervical spinal cord at 3T in view of studying the dynamics of sodium in this challenging area.