Henrik
Lundell1,2, Dorothy Barthelemy2, Arnold Skimminge1,
Fin Biering-Srensen3, Jens Bo Nielsen2
1Danish Research Centre for Magnetic
Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Hvidovre, Denmark; 2Department
of Excercise and Sport Sciences & Department of Neuroscience and
Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark; 3Clinic
for Spinal Cord Injuries, Rigshospitalet and University of Copenhagen,
Copenhagen, Denmark
MRI
can effectively detect lesions on the spinal cord but it has been difficult
to find sensitive markers for specific functional deficits. Spinal cord
atrophy due to loss of white matter can be measured as the transversal area
at a given level of the spinal cord distal to the focal lesion and
correlations to global functional scores has been observed in different
pathologies. We suggest a simple but robust method to extract more specific
and functionally relevant parameters and show independent correlations to
motor and sensory deficits in individuals with spinal cord injury.
Keywords