image: Fiber-tracking images of nerve roots in a 62-year-old female patient with intervertebral disc degeneration-induced radiculopathy are shown. After diffusion tensor tractography, nerve root fibers gathered together, were incomplete, and the area decreased. view more
Credit: <i>Neural Regeneration Research</i>
If bulging or protruding intervertebral discs occupies the intervertebral foramen, and nerve roots are compressed. The cross-sectional area of nerve root fibers is reduced, fiber bundles gathered together and interrupted at the affected side, with no branching. Dr. Xin Tian and colleagues from the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University in China was the first to use diffusion tensor tractography to reveal spinal nerve root function. A scoring system of nerve root morphology was used to quantitatively assess nerve root morphology and functional alteration after intervertebral disc degeneration. Results from this study, published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 33, 2013), suggest that diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging-based tractography can be used to quantitatively evaluate nerve root function according to the area and morphology of fiber bundles of nerve roots.
Article: " Scanning pattern of diffusion tensor tractography and an analysis of the morphology and function of spinal nerve roots," by Xin Tian, Huaijun Liu, Zuojun Geng, Hua Yang, Guoshi Wang, Jiping Yang, Chunxia Wang, Cuining Li, Ying Lib (Department of Medical Imaging, the Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang 050000, Hebei Province, China)
Tian X, Liu HJ, Geng ZJ, Yang H, Wang GS, Yang JP, Wang CX, Li CN, Li Y. Scanning pattern of diffusion tensor tractography and an analysis of the morphology and function of spinal nerve roots. Neural Regen Res. 2013;8(33):3159-3166.
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Journal
Neural Regeneration Research