The upper cervical spinal cord in ALS assessed by cross-sectional and longitudinal 3T MRI.
Sci Rep
; 10(1): 1783, 2020 02 04.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-32020025
ABSTRACT
The upper cervical spinal cord is measured in a large longitudinal amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) cohort to evaluate its role as a biomarker. Specifically, the cervical spinal cord´s cross-sectional area (CSA) in plane of the segments C1-C3 was measured semi-automatically with T1-weighted 3T MRI sequences in 158 ALS patients and 86 controls. Six-month longitudinal follow-up MRI scans were analyzed in 103 patients. Compared to controls, in ALS there was a significant mean spinal cord atrophy (63.8 mm² vs. 60.8 mm², p = 0.001) which showed a trend towards worsening over time (mean spinal cord CSA decrease from 61.4 mm² to 60.6 mm² after 6 months, p = 0.06). Findings were most pronounced in the caudal segments of the upper cervical spinal cord and in limb-onset ALS. Baseline CSA was related to the revised ALS functional rating scale, disease duration, precentral gyrus thickness and total brain gray matter volume. In conclusion, spinal cord atrophy as assessed in brain MRIs in ALS patients mirrors the extent of overall neurodegeneration and parallels disease severity.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
/
Gray Matter
/
Cervical Cord
/
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Sci Rep
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Alemania