Observational studyBMJ open2018
Can microstructural MRI detect subclinical tissue injury in subjects with asymptomatic cervical spinal cord compression? A prospective cohort study.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Demyelination in degenerative cervical myelopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of autopsy and imaging studies.Neurosurgical review · 2026Pooled it
- Adult-Lifespan Segment-Specific Normative Atlas of Cervical Spinal Cord Morphology, With Exploratory Application in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy.Neurospine · 2026Article
- Quantitative assessment of asymptomatic spinal cord compression using MRI: a multi-center study.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Assessing the diagnostic accuracy of symptoms and signs of degenerative cervical myelopathy: A prospective study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Magnetization transfer MRI (MT-MRI) detects white matter damage beyond the primary site of compression in degenerative cervical myelopathy using a novel semi-automated analysis.Computers in biology and medicine · 2025Article
- Body size and intracranial volume interact with the structure of the central nervous system: A multi-center in vivo neuroimaging study.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Cervical spinal cord morphometrics in degenerative cervical myelopathy: quantification using semi-automated normalized technique and correlation with neurological dysfunctions.The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society · 2024Article
- Reproducible Spinal Cord Quantitative MRI Analysis with the Spinal Cord Toolbox.Magnetic resonance in medical sciences : MRMS : an official journal of Japan Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine · 2024Review
- Finite Element Analysis for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Scoping Review of the Current Findings and Design Approaches, Including Recommendations on the Choice of Material Properties.JMIR biomedical engineering · 2024Article
- Evidence-based commentary on the diagnosis, management, and further research of degenerative cervical spinal cord compression in the absence of clinical symptoms of myelopathy.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Review
- Automated signal intensity analysis of the spinal cord for detection of degenerative cervical myelopathy - a matched-pair MRI study.Neuroradiology · 2023Article
- Degenerative cervical myelopathy: Where have we been? Where are we now? Where are we going?Acta neurochirurgica · 2023Review
- Article
- Correlation between "Snake-Eyes" Sign and Role of Surgery with a Focus on Postoperative Outcome: A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2023Review
- Update of the Natural History, Pathophysiology, and Treatment Strategies of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: A Narrative Review.Asian spine journal · 2023Article
- Structural Relationship between Cerebral Gray and White Matter Alterations in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy.Tomography (Ann Arbor, Mich.) · 2023Article
- Clinical and Research MRI Techniques for Assessing Spinal Cord Integrity in Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy-A Scoping Review.Biomedicines · 2022Article
- Development of a Novel Diagnostic Support Tool for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy Combining 10-s Grip and Release Test and Grip Strength: A Pilot Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Provision and Perception of Physiotherapy in the Nonoperative Management of Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM): A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire of People Living With DCM.Global spine journal · 2022Article
- Predicting postoperative recovery in cervical spondylotic myelopathy: construction and interpretation of TEuropean radiology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesDegenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) involves extrinsic spinal cord compression causing tissue injury and neurological dysfunction. Asymptomatic spinal cord compression (ASCC) is more common, but its significance is poorly defined. This study investigates if: (1) ASCC can be automatically diagnosed using spinal cord shape analysis; (2) multiparametric quantitative MRI can detect similar spinal cord tissue injury as previously observed in DCM.
designProspective observational longitudinal cohort study.
settingSingle centre, tertiary care and research institution.
participants40 neurologically intact subjects (19 female, 21 male) divided into groups with and without ASCC.
interventionsNone. OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical assessments: modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association score and physical examination. 3T MRI assessments: automated morphometric analysis compared with consensus ratings of spinal cord compression, and measures of tissue injury: cross-sectional area, diffusion fractional anisotropy, magnetisation transfer ratio and T2*-weighted imaging white to grey matter signal intensity ratio (T2*WI WM/GM) extracted from rostral (C1-3), caudal (C6-7) and maximally compressed levels.
resultsASCC was present in 20/40 subjects. Diagnosis with automated shape analysis showed area under the curve >97%. Five MRI metrics showed differences suggestive of tissue injury in ASCC compared with uncompressed subjects (p<0.05), while a composite of all 10 measures (average of z scores) showed highly significant differences (p=0.002). At follow-up (median 21 months), two ASCC subjects developed DCM.
conclusionsASCC appears to be common and can be accurately and objectively diagnosed with automated morphometric analysis. Quantitative MRI appears to detect subclinical tissue injury in ASCC prior to the onset of neurological symptoms and signs. These findings require further validation, but offer the intriguing possibility of presymptomatic diagnosis and treatment of DCM and other spinal pathologies.
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