Quantitative proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the cervical spinal cord

• Published in: Magnetic resonance in medicine 2004-06, Vol.51 (6), p.1122-1128
• Main Authors: Cooke, F.J., Blamire, A.M., Manners, D.N., Styles, P., Rajagopalan, B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: absolute quantitation; Adult; Aspartic Acid - analogs & derivatives; Aspartic Acid - analysis; Brain Stem - chemistry; Cerebellum - chemistry; Cerebral Cortex - chemistry; cervical spinal cord; Cervical Vertebrae; Choline - analysis; Creatine - analysis; field mapping; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; proton; Spinal Cord - anatomy & histology; Spinal Cord - chemistry
• ISSN: 0740-3194; 1522-2594
• DOI: 10.1002/mrm.20084

Proton MR spectroscopy (1H‐MRS) provides indices of neuronal damage in the central nervous system (CNS); however, it has not been extensively applied in the spinal cord. This work describes an optimized proton spectroscopy protocol for examination of the human cervical spinal cord. B0 field mapping of the cord revealed periodic inhomogeneities due to susceptibility differences with surrounding tissue. By combining field maps and experimental data, we found that the optimum voxel size was 9 × 7 × 35 mm3 placed with the inferior end of the voxel above vertebral body C2. Metabolite concentrations were determined in the cervical cord in six healthy controls by short‐echo point‐resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) volume localization. The results were compared with metabolite concentrations in the brainstem, cerebellum, and cortex in the same individuals. The concentrations in the cervical cord were as follows: N‐acetyl‐aspartate (NAA) 17.3 ± 0.5, creatine (Cr) 9.5 ± 0.9, and choline 2.7 ± 0.5 mmol/l. The NAA concentration was significantly lower in the cord than in the brainstem (Mann‐Whitney, P < 0.025), and higher than in the cortex (P < 0.005) and cerebellum (P < 0.005). Cr was significantly lower in the cord than in the cerebellum (P < 0.05). There were no significant differences between Cr concentrations in the spinal cord compared to the cortex and brainstem. Magn Reson Med 51:1122–1128, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.