Cheung Matthew M, Li Darrell T H, Hui Edward S, Fan Shujuan, Ding Abby Y, Hu Yong, Wu Ed X
Shujuan Fan are with the Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing and the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2009;2009:2715-8. doi: 10.1109/IEMBS.2009.5333389.
Chronic spinal cord compression induced cervical myelopathy is a comon cause of spinal cord dysfunction. The exact mechanisms of underlying progressive cell death remain to be elucidated. In this study, in vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has been applied to investigate the microstructural changes of white matter (WM) in this neurodegenerative disease. Compared with conventional MRI techniques, DTI is believed to be more specific to pathological changes. Radial diffusivity (lambda upper left and right quadrants) is higher in the ipilesional region, suggesting demyelination or axonal degradation may occur after prolonged compression. Near the epicenter of lesion, axial diffusivity (lambda(//)) is lower. Also, caudal-rostral asymmetry has been observed in lambda(//). Feasibility of using DTI to detect microstructural changes in chronic disease has been demonstrated.
慢性脊髓压迫所致的颈髓病是脊髓功能障碍的常见原因。潜在的进行性细胞死亡的确切机制仍有待阐明。在本研究中，已应用体内扩散张量成像（DTI）来研究这种神经退行性疾病中白质（WM）的微观结构变化。与传统MRI技术相比，DTI被认为对病理变化更具特异性。患侧区域的径向扩散率（λ左上和右上象限）较高，提示长时间压迫后可能发生脱髓鞘或轴突降解。在病变中心附近，轴向扩散率（λ（//））较低。此外，在λ（//）中观察到尾侧-头侧不对称。已证明使用DTI检测慢性疾病微观结构变化的可行性。
