Diffusion Tensor Imaging of Myelopathy

Myelopathy describes any neurologic deficit related to the spinal cord. Myelopathy is caused by various pathological states of the human spinal cord, including tumors, inflammatory lesions, spinal cord compression and degenerative myelopathy. Clinically, the diagnosis of myelopathy depends on localization of the neurologic finding to the spinal cord, rather than the brain or peripheral nervous system and then to a particular segment of the spinal cord. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an essential role in the diagnosis and follow-up of the lesions of the spinal cord using conventional MRI T1- and T2-weighted sequences. Sometimes a studied spinal cord may appear normal on conventional MRI even though patients have symptoms of myelopathy causing a discrepancy between MRI findings and clinical findings. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is an advanced non-invasive MR imaging technique which assesses the microstructural integrity of nerve fiber tracts.