T. H. Kim1, S. E. Kim1, Alpesh A. Patel2, Lauren Zollinger1, John Rose3, E. K. Jeong1
1Radiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; 2Orthopedic Surgery, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; 3Neurology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a promising technique to detect early changes of structures within the highly oriented tissues, such as brain, cervical spinal cord, and optic nerves using the anisotropicity of the microscopic water diffusion. Feasibility of DTI for clinical applications such as cervical spinal injury is ongoing studies. In our study, we quantified DTI parameters of in-vivo human cervical spinal cord of 14 healthy normal controls and 8 patients with spinal cord myelopathy (SCM) using 2D single-shot diffusion weighted EPI (2D ss-DWEPI) with the Interleaved Multiple Inner Volume (IMIV) imaging technique. Our study provides quantitative information on the diffusivities of CSC for normal volunteers and shows a deviation of diffusivities for cervical myelopathy patients from controlled values due to damages of cervical spinal cord.