Simultaneous voxel-wise analysis of brain and spinal cord morphometry and microstructure within the SPM framework

This study introduces a new tool, SPM-BSC, for analyzing MRI scans of the brain and spinal cord simultaneously. It validates this tool by comparing MRI data from spinal cord injury patients and healthy individuals. The SPM-BSC tool is compared against existing tools that analyze the brain and spinal cord separately to ensure it provides comparable results. The study shows that the new tool is effective in identifying trauma-induced changes in the brain and spinal cord of SCI patients, similar to the existing methods, while offering the advantage of analyzing both regions simultaneously.

• 1
  The SPM-BSC approach identified trauma-induced changes in the sensorimotor system of the brain and spinal cord in SCI patients, consistent with findings from established analysis methods.
• 2
  SCI patients exhibited lower R1 values in the thalamus, corticospinal tract, and sensory-motor cortex compared to healthy controls, and lower MT values in the sensory-motor cortex.
• 3
  Association analysis showed that greater MT in the cervical cord was associated with better pinprick and SCIM scores, indicating a correlation between spinal cord microstructure and functional outcome.