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58. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e. V. (DGNC)

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC) e. V.

26. bis 29.04.2007, Leipzig

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MR diffusion tensor imaging and fiber tracking in spinal cord arterio-venous malformations - a preliminary study

MR Diffusionstensor-Bildgebung und Faserbahndarstellung bei spinalen arteriovenösen Malformationen - vorläufige Ergebnisse

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  • corresponding author M. Reinges - Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universitätsklinikum Aachen
  • A. Ozanne - Service de Neuroradiologie Diagnostique et Thérapeutique, Hôpital de Bicetre, Paris, France
  • D. Ducreux - Service de Neuroradiologie Diagnostique et Thérapeutique, Hôpital de Bicetre, Paris, France
  • T. Krings - Abteilung Neuroradiologie, Universitätsklinikum Aachen
  • P. Lasjaunias - Service de Neuroradiologie Diagnostique et Thérapeutique, Hôpital de Bicetre, Paris, France

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 58. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e.V. (DGNC). Leipzig, 26.-29.04.2007. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2007. DocSA.05.09

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2007/07dgnc165.shtml

Published: April 11, 2007

© 2007 Reinges et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

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Objective: Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) of the spinal cord in patients harboring spinal arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) was carried out to evaluate the feasibility of this new technique in determine the displacement of the spinal cord tracts, and to correlate morphological and functional DTI data (fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)) with the clinical symptoms.

Methods: Nine patients with spinal cord AVMs were investigated at 1.5T employing a sagittal spin-echo (SE) single-shot echo-planar Grappa diffusion-weighted imaging sequence. ADC and FA maps were computed in different regions of interest (both above and below the nidus) and tractography was employed to visualize the course of the tracks. The data were correlated with the clinical symptoms and compared to 12 healthy control subjects.

Results: At the level of the nidus, tracts were normal, shifted, separated or interrupted, but not intermingled with the nidus. Interruption of the tracts was coherent with the clinical symptoms. In patients with severe neurological deficits, FA values caudal to the nidus showed a reduced anisotropy consistent with a loss of white matter tracts.

Conclusions: We demonstrate that arteriovenous malformations may interrupt, displace or separate the fiber tracts, and, that clinical symptomatology may be reflected by the quantitative FA results and the morphological loss of fibers distant to the lesion. DTI with fiber tracking offers a novel approach to imaging the spinal cord AVMs and may open a window to understanding the complex pathophysiology of these lesions.