Abstract #4675

Feasibility of Grey Matter and White Matter Segmentation of the Conus Medullaris: A Pilot In Vivo Investigation in the Neurologically Intact Spinal Cord

Martina D Liechti^1,2, Nuttakarn Budtarad¹, Daniel R Altmann^1,3, Xixi Yang^1,2, Ahmed T Toosy¹, Jalesh N Panicker², Claudia AM Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott¹, and Marios Yiannakas¹

¹UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square MS Centre, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ²UCL Institute of Neurology, Uro-Neurology, Department of Brain Repair & Rehabilitation, University College London, London, United Kingdom, ³Translational Imaging Group, Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom

Spinal cord (SC) atrophy as a consequence of neurodegeneration, and its association with clinical scores of disability, may be assessed indirectly by means of cord, grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) segmentation from magnetic resonance images. Neuropathological evidence suggests that in certain neurological conditions, early degeneration may occur as low as the sacral SC, potentially implicating neural pathways that are essential for the functioning of the lower urinary tract. In this work, the feasibility of GM/WM segmentation of the conus medullaris is assessed in vivo using a clinical 3T system.

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