TRADITIONAL POSTER - ismrm

Poster Sessions
2455. Diffusion Tensor MR Characteristics of Cervical Spondylosis
Benjamin M. Ellingson 1,2 , Jean-Louis Benae 2 , Shekar N. Kurpad 2 , Brian D. Schmit 3 , Mehmet Kocak 1 ,
Marjorie C. Wang 2
1 Dept. of Radiology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States; 2 Dept. of Neurosurgery, Medical College of
Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, United States; 3 Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, United States
The objective of the current study was to characterize the diffusion tensor MRI (DTI) properties of the cervical spinal cord in patients diagnosed with
cervical spondylosis. Axial DTI was performed throughout the region of highest cord compression in 17 patients with cervical spondylosis using a clinical
1.5T MRI system. Results showed spatially localized regions of high FA and low MD at the site of compression. Longitudinal ADC was significantly lower
than historic controls, whereas transverse ADC was significantly higher than historic controls in regions adjacent to the site of compression. Results from
this study suggest that FA and MD can be used to localize regions of the spinal cord under the largest degree of compression.
2456. Pitfalls of Spinal DTI in Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy
Enedino Hernandez Torres 1,2 , Alex L. MacKay 2,3 , Erin MacMillan 4 , Teodoro Cordova Fraga 1 , Alonso
Ramirez Manzanares 5 , Armin Curt 6 , David Li 2 , Burkhard Mädler 7 , M Dvorak 8
1 Division de Ciencias e Ingenierias, Universidad de Guanajuato, Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico; 2 Radiology, University of British
Columbia, Canada, Vancouver, Brithish Columbia, Canada; 3 Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Canada,
Vancouver, Brithish Columbia, Canada; 4 Clinical Research, University of Bern; 5 Facultad de Matematicas, Universidad de
Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Mexico; 6 Spinal Cord Injury Center, University of Zurich; 7 Philips Healthcare, Vancouver, Brithish
Columbia; 8 International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries
Diffusion measures have proved to be useful in cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). This study compared two methods of analysis for spinal DTI in
CSM subjects and normals. The first approach defined the spine area on the basis of a fractional anisotropy threshold of 0.3; the second employed a
threshold based upon eigenvector orientation within 45 degrees of the direction of the spine. The two approaches yielded markedly different diffusion
measures in controls, in stenotic regions and in non-stenotic regions. Further examination revealed that the eigenvector orientation approach included signal
from CSF and hence gave artifactual results.
2457. Optimization of Reduced Field of View (RFoV) Quantitative Diffusion MRI in Thoracic Spine
David Michael Thomasson 1 , Leor Zach 2 , Laura Elizabeth Danielian 3 , Peter Guion 2 , Yuxi Pang 4 , Dimitrios
Alexopoulos 1 , Nicholas John Patronas 1
1 Radiology and Imaging Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States; 2 Radiation Oncology Branch, National
Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, United States; 3 EMG Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda,
MD, United States; 4 BU - MR, Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH, United States
Reduced Field of View rFoV diffusion weighted imaging techniques improve quantitative ADC and FA data for sagittal acquired thoracic spine imaging at
3Tesla relative to 1.5T. While lower field has less distortions limiting the necessity of such techniques, the reduced SNR at 1.5T makes them less desirable
using clinically acceptable scan times. Here we optimize the rFoV technique in thoracic spine to obtain the best possible data in a clinical population.
2458. Toward Reproducible Tract-Specific in Vivo Diffusion Quantification in Human Cervical Spinal Cord
Junqian Xu 1 , Eric C. Klawiter 1 , Joshua S. Shimony 2 , Abraham Z. Snyder, 12 , Robert T. Naismith 1 , Agus
Priatna 3 , Tammie Benzinger 2 , Anne Cross 1 , Sheng-Kwei Song 2
1 Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States; 2 Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St.
Louis, MO, United States; 3 Siemens Medical Solution, United States
We describe a reproducible in vivo human cervical spinal cord diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) protocol at 3T. The data acquisition and analysis procedures
are described with examples from healthy (n = 17) and pathological human spinal (n = 2) cords. The described comprehensive approach (1) accounts for the
natural curvature of the human spinal cord by covering C1-6 with separate tiltable slices/groups, (2) minimizes distortion and signal drop-out by localized
shimming, (3) improves the robustness by motion-correction and motion-based outlier rejection, (4) corrects negative eigenvalues by non-negative nonlinear
DTI calculation, and (5) employs objective geometry based region-of-interest selection for tract identification.
2459. Stimulus Site and Modality Dependence of Functional Activity Within the Human Spinal Cord
Yazhuo Kong 1 , Michael Lee 2 , Catherine Warnaby 1 , Vishwani Wanigasekera 1 , Mark Jenkinson 1 , Irene
Tracey 1 , Jonathan Brooks 1
1 FMRIB centre, Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom; 2 Division of
Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Chronic pain is thought to arise due to maladaptive changes occurring at the level of the spinal cord. To investigate such changes in humans, a non-invasive
neuroimaging technique is desirable. We have investigated the functional response in the spinal cord of 18 healthy subjects to noxious stimulation using
punctate and thermal stimulation of the left and right arms. Group analysis, revealed distinct regions of activity within the spinal cord that were dependent on
both the side of stimulation and the type of stimulus used. These results present the first non-invasive evidence for a lateralised and stimulus-specific spinal
cord response.
2460. Quantitative Magnetization Transfer Imaging of Human Cervical Spinal Cord at 3T
Richard D. Dortch 1,2 , E B. Welch 2,3 , John C. Gore 1,2 , Seth A. Smith 1,2
1 Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 2 Vanderbilt University
Institute of Imaging Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; 3 MR Clinical Science, Philips Healthcare,
Cleveland, OH, United States
The goal of this study was to determine the feasibility of performing quantitative magnetization transfer (qMT) at high resolution in the spinal cord on
clinical 3T systems. While MT imaging has been used to assess brain tissue microstructure, similar studies in the spinal cord have been limited due to high