Elsevier

Injury

Volume 24, Issue 3, March 1993, Pages 149-154
Injury

Paper
Role of magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of spinal injuries

https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-1383(93)90278-EGet rights and content

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) examination was carried out on 44 patients who had spinal injuries with neurological involvement.

The technique provided valuable information about the nature of the injuries and, in particular, about the state of the spinal cord. The appearances of the cord on MRI ranged from normal, to oedema, to more severe damage such as cord haemorrhage or transection or, in later cases, myelomalacia.

The appearance of the cord on MRI correlated strongly with both the severity of the neurological deficit and also the degree of subsequent recovery. In the assessment of the acute spinal injury, MRI has been shown to be a good prognostic indicator; it may also help to identify which patients are likely to benefit from early decompression.

References (19)

  • W.T. Djang

    Radiology of acute spinal trauma

    Crit. Care Clin.

    (1987)
  • Y. Folman et al.

    Spinal cord injury: prognostic indicators

    Injury

    (1989)
  • K.P. Murphy et al.

    Cervical ractures and spinal cord injury: outcome of surgical and non-surgical management

  • H.H. Bohlman et al.

    The results of treatment of acute injuries of the upper thoracic spine with paralysis

    J. Bone Joint Surg.

    (1985)
  • F.J. Bondurant et al.

    Acute spinal cord injury. A study using physical examination and magnetic resonance imaging

    Spine

    (1990)
  • L.D. Dorr et al.

    Clinical review of the early stability of spine injuries

    Spine

    (1982)
  • A.E. Flanders et al.

    Acute cervical spine trauma: correlation of MR imaging findings with degree of neurological deficit

    Radiology

    (1990)
  • H.L. Frankel et al.

    The value of postural reduction in the initial management of closed injuries of the spine with paraplegia and tetraplegia

    Paraplegia

    (1969)
  • F.H. Geisler et al.

    Recovery of motor function after spinal cord injury — a randomized placebo controlled trial with GM-1 Ganglioside

    N. Engl. J. Med.

    (1991)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (23)

  • Diffusion tensor imaging of spinal cord parenchyma lesion in rat with chronic spinal cord injury

    2018, Magnetic Resonance Imaging
    Citation Excerpt :

    Additionally, the cavity percentage obtained from the color-coded FA was well correlated with that obtained from the LFB; however, the T2 weighted result was correlated with neither FA results nor LFB results (see details in Fig. 3J). Conventional MRI is considered as a useful imaging modality for the routine examination of human SCI [34], because it can reflect pathological status such as hemorrhage, edema, and cavitation [35–38]. In the present study, we also observed abnormality of conventional MRI signals in the T2 weighted image, which was later demonstrated by the pathological results as well.

  • ACR Appropriateness Criteria Myelopathy

    2016, Journal of the American College of Radiology
    Citation Excerpt :

    MRI is widely considered to be the study of choice when paralysis is incomplete, or under other circumstances in which direct visualization of neural or ligamentous structures is clinically necessary. If surgery for herniated disc, hematoma, or other cause of incomplete paralysis is planned, MRI best depicts the relationship of pathology to the cord, and can help predict which patients may benefit from surgery [20-26] (Variant 1). Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine central stenosis are common causes of myelopathy.

  • Longitudinal assessment of white matter pathology in the injured mouse spinal cord through ultra-high field (16.4T) in vivo diffusion tensor imaging

    2013, NeuroImage
    Citation Excerpt :

    Conventional MRI is the standard method for evaluating human SCI (Bozzo et al., 2011). MRI has also proved a valuable tool in various animal models of SCI, including dogs (Boekhoff et al., 2012), cats (Takahashi et al., 1996), rats (Kozlowski et al., 2008; Martirosyan et al., 2010; Sandner et al., 2009; Scholtes et al., 2011) and mice (Gonzalez-Lara et al., 2009; Tatar et al., 2009), to identify tissue compression, oedema, haemorrhage and scarring (Blomster et al., 2013; Mhuircheartaigh et al., 2006; O'Beirne et al., 1993). We demonstrate here that macroscopic assessment of longitudinal MRI data can also reveal the progression of atrophy in mice, with a significant tissue shrinkage detected between 7 and 30 days post-SCI.

  • ACR appropriateness criteria<sup>®</sup> myelopathy

    2012, Journal of the American College of Radiology
    Citation Excerpt :

    MRI is widely considered the study of choice when paralysis is incomplete or under other circumstances in which direct visualization of neural or ligamentous structures is clinically necessary. If surgery for a herniated disc, hematoma, or other cause of incomplete paralysis is planned, MRI best depicts the relation of pathology to the cord, and it can help predict which patients may benefit from surgery [6-14]. Some less commonly applied techniques may have some value in selected circumstances [15-18].

  • Restoring Function After Spinal Cord Injury: Promoting Spontaneous Regeneration with Stem Cells and Activity-Based Therapies

    2007, Neurosurgery Clinics of North America
    Citation Excerpt :

    Many studies have attempted to correlate imaging results with neurologic and functional outcomes in acute SCI but with little success. With conventional MRI (T1w and T2w), only evidence of cord transection [61] or substantial intramedullary hemorrhage during acute SCI has predictive value for irreversible neurologic injury [62–67]. Although the location of the hemorrhage within the acutely injured spinal cord matches the clinical level of injury [62], the size of the hemorrhage does not predict the extent of functional loss or disability [63,68].

View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text