Rachael Lee Bosma1, Christopher Alan Kidd1,
Patrick W. Stroman1,2
1Centre for Neuroscience Studies,
Queen's University,
A
greater understanding of diffusion indices within the healthy spinal cord is
necessary for comparison with clinical populations. Here we measured
fractional anisotropy and apparent diffusion coefficient values for cervical
(C2-C7), thoracic (T3-T8) and lumbar (T10-L1) regions of the cord. FA vs. ADC
values were plotted and three clusters were determined using a k-means
partition to characterize each region of the spinal cord. DTI indices in the
healthy cord were observed to be relatively consistent across regions,
indicating that changes in these indices as a result of trauma at any level
can be characterized relative to these observed indices.
Keywords