Feasibility of Evaluating the Spinal Cord with MR Elastography

Scott A. Kruse¹, Arunark Kolipaka¹, Armando Manduca¹, Richard L. Ehman¹

The goal of this work was to investigate the feasibility of applying MR Elastography to evaluate the spinal cord. An acoustic driver device placed posterior to the spine was evaluated in seven volunteer studies. An inversion algorithm based on flexural vibration in beams was used to process the wave data. The shear stiffness of the superior portion of the spinal cord was estimated to be 12.1+2.4 kPa in the resulting elastograms, while the bulk stiffness of the cauda equina estimated at 2.7+0.8 kPa. This work may provide new parameters for characterizing the spinal cord in health and disease.