Abstract #2461

Fast Simultaneous Acquisition of High-Resolution Brain and Cervical Spinal Cord T1w Images to Measure Spinal Cord Atrophy: Methods and Validation

Patrick Anton Bruno Freund^1,2, Catherine Dalton³, Claudia Angela Michela Wheeler-Kingshott³, Janice Glensman¹, David Bradbury¹, Alan James Thompson², Nikolaus Weiskopf¹

¹Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL Institue of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; ²Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Institue of Neurology, London, United Kingdom; ³Neuroinflammation, UCL Institue of Neurology, London, United Kingdom

We have developed and validated a method for fast, simultaneous and high-quality imaging of the brain and cervical spinal cord (< 14 mins., 1 mm isotropic resolution) with the potential to detect, besides volumetric changes at cortical level, also changes at cervical level. It is based on a 3D MDEFT scan using an 8-channel receive head coil. Measures of cross sectional cord area, obtained with the MDEFT-based method, are in good agreement with the established standard based on 3D MPRAGE scans with dedicated spine coils, as determined in a group of healthy controls and subjects with traumatic cervical spinal cord injury.