====== Spinal cord morphometry ======

{{rss>https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/rss/search/1FOSZGBm2W2xu-8A_xBR3VxhRsVLYhtT-mgQ1uUq_e01ryGY1N/?limit=15&utm_campaign=pubmed-2&fc=20221212160803}}

Pediatric [[spinal cord]] [[morphometry]] has been relatively understudied because of non-optimal [[image]] [[quality]] due to the difficulty of [[spine]] [[imaging]], rarity of post-mortem analysis, motion [[artifact]]s, and pediatric MR imaging research focus on understanding [[spinal injury]] or [[spinal pathology]]. The pediatric brain has been comparatively well-studied with white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) differences observed with age and gender. Therefore, a greater understanding of pediatric cervical and thoracic spinal cord morphometry would be beneficial for developing clinically relevant cord growth models. We focused on retrospectively characterizing cervical and thoracic spinal cord growth and morphometry changes in a healthy pediatric population. High resolution multi-echo [[gradient echo]] (mFFE) images were acquired from pediatric spinal cord scans from 63 patients (mean: 9.24 years, range: 0.83-17.67 years). The mFFE scans were then registered to the template space for uniform viewing and analysis by using a customized semi-automatic processing pipeline involving Spinal Cord Toolbox (SCT). Jacobian control determinants were calculated, and subsequent WM, GM, dorsal column, lateral funiculi, and ventral funiculi scalar averaging was conducted. Random effects models were used to model age-related Jacobian scalar differences. Observing the growth of cord matter by patient age and vertebral level suggests that the upper cervical spinal cord, specifically C2-C3, and mid-thoracic spinal cord, T3-T8, grow faster than other cervical levels and thoracic levels, respectively. This knowledge will facilitate clinical decision making when considering spine interventions and conducting radiological analysis in children with cervical and thoracic spine abnormalities
((Kumar A, Vandekar S, Schilling K, Bhatia A, Landman BA, Smith S. Mapping Pediatric Spinal Cord Development with Age. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2022 Feb-Mar;12032:1203213. doi: 10.1117/12.2612210. Epub 2022 Apr 4. PMID: 36506260; PMCID: PMC9733418.)).