Abstract
ObjectivesWallerian degeneration (WD) is a well-known process after nerve injury. In this study, occurrence of remote intramedullary signal changes, consistent with WD, and its correlation with clinical and neurophysiological impairment were assessed after traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI).MethodsIn 35 patients with tSCI, WD was evaluated by two radiologists on T2-weighted images of serial routine MRI examinations of the cervical spine. Dorsal column (DC), lateral corticospinal tract (CS), and lateral spinothalamic tract (ST) were the analyzed anatomical regions. Impairment scoring according to the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS, A–D) as well as a scoring system (0–4 points) for motor evoked potential (MEP) and sensory evoked potential (SEP) was included. Mann-Whitney U test was used to test for differences.ResultsWD in the DC occurred in 71.4% (n = 25), in the CS in 57.1% (n = 20), and in 37.1% (n = 13) in the ST. With WD present, AIS grades were worse for all tracts. DC: median AIS B vs D, p < 0.001; CS: B vs D, p = 0.016; and ST: B vs D, p = 0.015. More pathological MEP scores correlated with WD in the DC (median score 0 vs 3, p < 0.001) and in the CS (0 vs 2, p = 0.032). SEP scores were lower with WD in the DC only (1 vs 2, p = 0.031).ConclusionsWD can be detected on T2-weighted scans in the majority of cervical spinal cord injury patients and should be considered as a direct effect of the trauma. When observed, it is associated with higher degree of impairment.Key Points• Wallerian degeneration is commonly seen in routine MRI after traumatic spinal cord injury.• Wallerian degeneration is visible in the anatomical regions of the dorsal column, the lateral corticospinal tract, and the lateral spinothalamic tract.• Presence of Wallerian degeneration is associated with higher degree of impairment.
Highlights
Wallerian degeneration (WD) is a well-known phenomenon and describes disintegration of axons and myelin sheaths after the connection with the cell body is interrupted [1]
Scoring of trauma severity was done according to American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) which is based on clinical examination according to the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury [16]
motor evoked potential (MEP) was not available in 8 cases and sensory evoked potential (SEP) in 1 case that led to exclusion of another 9 patients, resulting in a final set of 35 patients
Summary
Wallerian degeneration (WD) is a well-known phenomenon and describes disintegration of axons and myelin sheaths after the connection with the cell body is interrupted [1]. Few studies have addressed tract-specific WD in the spinal cord with focus on the dorsal column (DC) and the lateral corticospinal tract (CS) using advanced MRI methods such as high angular diffusionweighted imaging, magnetization transfer, diffusion tensor imaging, or fractional anisotropy [1, 4, 9,10,11,12,13,14]. It is not clear whether WD can commonly be detected on the clinical MRI examinations that the patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) receive as part of standard care
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