Izlem Izbudak1, Netsiri Dumrongpisutikul1,
Carol B. Thompson2, Wesley Gilson3, Aylin Tekes, Majda
M. Thurnher4, Thierry A. G. M. Huisman
1John Hopkins Medical
Institution, Baltimore, MD, United States; 2John Hopkins Bloomberg
school of Public health; 3Imaging & Visualization, Siemens
Corporate Research, Inc.; 4Radiology, Medical University of Vienna
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the spinal cord is an advanced MR imaging technique for analyzing the white matter changes in a microstructural level. A normative dataset of DTI parameters in children is necessary as a standard of reference to compare with those with cord pathologies. Our study formed a relatively large number (56 children) of normative data from cervical and upper thoracic spinal cord of neonates, infants, young children and adolescents. We found an age related change in FA and ADC values reflecting the maturation and development of the cord without differences in relationship with gender. We also showed differences in ADC means between upper and lower cervical and upper thoracic spinal cord across the age groups. We investigated the relation between differences in ADC and FA means and the orthograde maturation of the spinal cord.
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