Changes of cervical spinal cord and cervical spinal canal with age in asymptomatic subjects

Abstract

Study design: Prospective study on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiographic ®ndings of the cervical spine. Objective: To elucidate the age-related changes of the cervical spinal cord and the cervical spinal canal and the relationship between the spinal cord and the spinal canal in asymptomatic subjects using MRI and radiography. Setting: Tokyo, Japan. Methods: The transverse area of the cervical spinal cord and the ratio of the anteroposterior diameter to the transverse diameter (RAPT) were investigated, using MRI in 229 asymptomatic subjects. The sagittal spinal canal diameter and anteroposterior diameter of the cervical vertebral body were also measured on plain lateral radiographs. The canal body ratio (CBR), which was de®ned as the diameter of the spinal canal divided by that of the vertebral body, was calculated. Results: The transverse spinal cord area correlated negatively with age. RAPT did not correlate with age. The CBR correlated negatively with age. The correlation between spinal cord area and CBR was signi®cant but weak and the correlation between RAPT and CBR was not signi®cant. Conclusion: The transverse area of the cervical spinal cord measured by MRI decreased with age, while RAPT remained unchanged. The bony spinal canal became narrower with age. The spinal cord area and the shapes of the spinal cord were independent from the spinal canal diameter in asymptomatic subjects. These facts should be considered when evaluating radiological ®ndings in patients with cervical spinal disorders.

Spatial Normalization and Regional Assessment of Cord Atrophy: Voxel-Based Analysis of Cervical Cord 3D T1-Weighted Images

“…While there is general agreement, especially when taking into account data from postmortem studies, that spinal cord tissue is not spared by age-related pathologic changes, [23][24][25] it is still a matter of debate whether these changes lead to visible wholecord atrophy, which was reported by some MR imaging studies 26,27 but not by others. 1,28 Our results might suggest that these neurodegenerative processes do produce some subtle tissue loss, though it is not always extensive enough to be detected at a global level.…”

Normal morphology, age-related changes and abnormal findings of the cervical spine. Part II: magnetic resonance imaging of over 1,200 asymptomatic subjects

“…The values obtained by MRI may have been higher than those obtained by CTM because of factors such as spinal cord pulsation (motion artifact). In previous reports, the area of the axial spinal cord was approximately 90 mm 2 using 0.5-Tesla MRI [2]. It is thought that these factors are more significant when using 0.5-Tesla MRI, which has a lower resolution and a longer inspection time than 1.5-Tesla MRI.…”

“…It is thought that these factors are more significant when using 0.5-Tesla MRI, which has a lower resolution and a longer inspection time than 1.5-Tesla MRI. The area of the axial spinal cord in autopsy specimens was found to be approximately 50 mm 2 , which is presumably reduced because of the fixation of specimens [3].…”

“…Furthermore, the only report we found on normal cervical spinal cord parameters was based on autopsy samples [3]. However, to the best of our knowledge, there have been only a few MRI-based reports describing the normal configuration of the cervical spinal canal, including the soft tissues, and the details of the relationships between the cervical spinal canal, dural tube, and spinal cord [2,6,7]. In the present study, we therefore sought to establish standard MRI values for these parameters in a large sample of healthy asymptomatic subjects.…”

“…To date, only a few MRI-based reports on the normal configuration of the cervical spinal canal, including the soft tissue, have been documented in the literature [2,7]. The cervical spinal canal and spinal cord measurements The values are mean ± SD (mm 2 ) Fig.…”