Abstract #2381

Progressive ventricles enlargement and CSF volume increases as a marker of neurodegeneration in SCI patients: A longitudinal MRI study

Maryam Seif¹, Gabriel Ziegler ^2,3, and Patrick Freund^1,4,5,6

¹Spinal Cord Injury Center Balgrist, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, ²Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany, ³German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany, ⁴Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom, ⁵Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom, ⁶Department of Neurophysics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany

Following Spinal Cord Injury the sensorimotor and limbic system immediately undergo progressive neurodegeneration (atrophy). Next to the focal grey and white matter atrophy, localized CSF and ventricular volume changes may provide additional biomarkers for brain atrophy. We therefore aimed to track brain atrophy by means of CSF volume changes and ventricular enlargements over two years following SCI. Our finding showed an increase of local CSF volume as well as ventricles enlargement in patients over time. The CSF volume which is normally used as a biomarker of general atrophy, showed also sensitivity to local degenerative changes in SCI.

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