Eric Edward Sigmund1, Maxim Bester1,2,
Ali Tabesh1, Matilde Inglese1, Joseph A. Helpern1
1Radiology, New York University Langone
Medical Center, New York, NY, United States; 2Neuroradiology,
University Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
The
microstructural sensitivity of diffusion-weighted imaging is a powerful
diagnostic in degenerative spinal cord (SC) disorders, and its specificity to
different pathologies can be amplified with advanced protocols that exceed
the Gaussian diffusion approximation.
To that end, this study presents diffusional kurtosis imaging in the
cervical spinal cord of healthy control subjects at 3 T. A set of diffusion tensor (MD, FA, Daxial,Dradial)
and kurtosis tensor (MK, Kaxial,Kradial) metrics are derived. Diffusion and kurtosis metrics are observed
to inversely correlate (e.g. low radial diffusion with high radial kurtosis),
which is discussed in the context of SC microstructure.