Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Objectives: This study's goal is to report whether Magnetization Transfer Ratio (MTR) can evaluate the severity of white matter (WM) injury in degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM).
Setting: Laureate Institute of Brain Research, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, USA.
Background Context: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is characterized by spinal cord atrophy. Accurate estimation of spinal cord atrophy is key to the understanding of neurological diseases, including DCM. However, its clinical application is hampered by difficulties in its precise and consistent estimation due to significant variability in spinal cord morphometry along the cervical spine, both within and between individuals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany studies have shown that the prevalence of degenerative spinal cord compression increases with age. However, most cases at early stages are asymptomatic, and their diagnosis remains challenging. Asymptomatic cervical spinal cord compression (ASCC) patients are more likely to experience annular tears, herniated disks, and later develop symptomatic compression.
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