Imaging Techniques in Spinal Cord Injury

Overview

Journal World Neurosurg

Publisher Elsevier

Date 2012 Dec 19

PMID 23246741

Citations 15

Authors

Benjamin M Ellingson

Noriko Salamon

Langston T Holly

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Spinal imaging plays a critical role in the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). In recent years there has been increasing interest in the development of advanced imaging techniques to provide pertinent microstructural and metabolic information that is not provided by conventional modalities.

Methods: This review details the pathophysiological structural changes that accompany SCI, as well as their imaging correlates. The potential clinical applications of novel spinal cord imaging techniques to SCI are presented.

Results: There are a variety of novel advanced imaging techniques that are principally focused on the microstructural and/or biochemical function of the spinal cord, and can potentially be applied to traumatic SCI, including diffusion tensor imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, positron emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. These techniques are presently in various stages of development, including some whose applications are primarily limited to laboratory investigation, whereas others are being actively used in clinical practice.

Conclusion: Advanced imaging of the spinal cord has tremendous potential to provide patient-specific physiological information about the status of cord integrity and health. Advanced spinal cord imaging is still at early stages of development and clinical implementation but is likely to play an increasingly important role in the management of spinal cord health in the foreseeable future.

Citing Articles

An integrative nomogram based on MRI radiomics and clinical characteristics for prognosis prediction in cervical spinal cord Injury.

Zhang Z, Li N, Ding Y, Cheng H Eur Spine J. 2024; 34(3):1164-1176.

PMID: 39672993 DOI: 10.1007/s00586-024-08609-8.

[Perioperative management after traumatic paraplegia : Avoiding complications].

Heuer A, Koepke L, Viezens L, Schroeder M Unfallchirurgie (Heidelb). 2023; 126(10):749-755.

PMID: 37306757 DOI: 10.1007/s00113-023-01342-9.

MicroRNAs in spinal cord injury: A narrative review.

Zhang C, Talifu Z, Xu X, Liu W, Ke H, Pan Y Front Mol Neurosci. 2023; 16:1099256.

PMID: 36818651 PMC: 9931912. DOI: 10.3389/fnmol.2023.1099256.

SV2A PET Imaging Is a Noninvasive Marker for the Detection of Spinal Damage in Experimental Models of Spinal Cord Injury.

Bertoglio D, Halloin N, De Lombaerde S, Jankovski A, Verhaeghe J, Nicaise C J Nucl Med. 2022; 63(8):1245-1251.

PMID: 35027368 PMC: 9364338. DOI: 10.2967/jnumed.121.263222.

Diffusion tensor imaging and electrophysiology as robust assays to evaluate the severity of acute spinal cord injury in rats.

Chen B, Tan Q, Zhao W, Yang Q, Zhang H, Gao F BMC Neurol. 2020; 20(1):236.

PMID: 32517723 PMC: 7282236. DOI: 10.1186/s12883-020-01778-1.

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