Enrico De Vita1,2, Carolina Kachramanoglou1,
Claudia A. M. Wheeler-Kingshott3, David L. Thomas1,
David Choi1, Alan Thompson1, Olga Ciccarelli1
1Department of Brain Repair
& Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; 2Lysholm
Department of Radiology, National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery,
London, United Kingdom; 3Department of Neuroinflammation, UCL
Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom
We assessed whether 1H-MR spectroscopy of the spinal cord above the re-implanted brachial plexus roots is sensitive to pathological changes occurring in this region. A single-voxel caridac gated PRESS sequence with CHESS water suppression was obtained between C1 and C3 using a 3T scanner in patients who underwent re-implantation and healthy controls. Patients showed increased myo-Inositol/Creatine plus Phosphocreatine ratio when compared with healthy controls, suggesting reactive gliosis above the site of injury. Future studies will include patients with brachial plexus avulsion who did not undergo re-implantation, in order to understand whether this technique is sensitive to microscopic changes specific to re-implantation.