Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38020663›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in neurology2023

Increased cranio-caudal spinal cord oscillations are the cardinal pathophysiological change in degenerative cervical myelopathy.

Nikolai Pfender, Jan Rosner, Carl M Zipser, Susanne Friedl, Martin Schubert, Reto Sutter, Markus Klarhoefer, José M Spirig, Michael Betz, Patrick Freund and 3 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in neurology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
1.6field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Nikolai PfenderSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Jan RosnerSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Carl M ZipserSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Susanne FriedlSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Martin SchubertSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Reto SutterRadiology, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Markus KlarhoeferSiemens Healthineers AG, Zurich, Switzerland.
José M SpirigUniversity Spine Center Zurich, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Michael BetzUniversity Spine Center Zurich, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Patrick FreundSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Mazda FarshadUniversity Spine Center Zurich, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Armin CurtSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Markus HuppSpinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
Universitätsklinik Balgrist · CHSiemens (Switzerland) · CHUniversity Hospital of Bern · CH

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is the most common cause of non-traumatic incomplete spinal cord injury, but its pathophysiology is poorly understood. As spinal cord compression observed in standard MRI often fails to explain a patient's status, new diagnostic techniques to assess DCM are one of the research priorities. Minor cardiac-related cranio-caudal oscillations of the cervical spinal cord are observed by phase-contrast MRI (PC-MRI) in healthy controls (HCs), while they become pathologically increased in patients suffering from degenerative cervical myelopathy. Whether transversal oscillations (i.e., anterior-posterior and right-left) also change in DCM patients is not known. Methods: We assessed spinal cord motion simultaneously in all three spatial directions (i.e., cranio-caudal, anterior-posterior, and right-left) using sagittal PC-MRI and compared physiological oscillations in 18 HCs to pathological changes in 72 DCM patients with spinal canal stenosis. The parameter of interest was the amplitude of the velocity signal (i.e., maximum positive to maximum negative peak) during the cardiac cycle. Results: Most patients suffered from mild DCM (mJOA score 16 (14-18) points), and the majority (68.1%) presented with multisegmental stenosis. The spinal canal was considerably constricted in DCM patients in all segments compared to HCs. Under physiological conditions in HCs, the cervical spinal cord oscillates in the cranio-caudal and anterior-posterior directions, while right-left motion was marginal [e.g., segment C5 amplitudes: cranio-caudal: 0.40 (0.27-0.48) cm/s; anterior-posterior: 0.18 (0.16-0.29) cm/s; right-left: 0.10 (0.08-0.13) cm/s]. Compared to HCs, DCM patients presented with considerably increased cranio-caudal oscillations due to the cardinal pathophysiologic change in non-stenotic [e.g., segment C5 amplitudes: 0.79 (0.49-1.32) cm/s] and stenotic segments [.g., segment C5 amplitudes: 0.99 (0.69-1.42) cm/s]). In contrast, right-left [e.g., segment C5 amplitudes: non-stenotic segment: 0.20 (0.13-0.32) cm/s; stenotic segment: 0.11 (0.09-0.18) cm/s] and anterior-posterior oscillations [e.g., segment C5 amplitudes: non-stenotic segment: 0.26 (0.15-0.45) cm/s; stenotic segment: 0.11 (0.09-0.18) cm/s] remained on low magnitudes comparable to HCs. Conclusion: Increased cranio-caudal oscillations of the cervical cord are the cardinal pathophysiologic change and can be quantified using PC-MRI in DCM patients. This study addresses spinal cord oscillations as a relevant biomarker reflecting dynamic mechanical cord stress in DCM patients, potentially contributing to a loss of function.

Indexed as

degenerative cervical myelopathyphase contrast MRIspinal cord motionspinal cord oscillationsspinal stenosis

Identifiers

PMID38020663
PMCPMC10663304
OpenAlexW4388525062

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.