Tractography of lumbar nerve roots: initial results
- نوع فایل : کتاب
- زبان : انگلیسی
- مؤلف : Vincent Balbi & Jean-François Budzik & Alain Duhamel & Anne Bera-Louville & Vianney Le Thuc & Anne Cotten
- چاپ و سال / کشور: 2011
Description
Objectives The aims of this preliminary study were to demonstrate the feasibility of in vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and fibre tracking (FT) of the lumbar nerve roots, and to assess potential differences in the DTI parameters of the lumbar nerves between healthy volunteers and patients suffering from disc herniation. Methods Nineteen patients with unilateral sciatica related to posterolateral or foraminal disc herniation and 19 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. DTI with tractography of the L5 or S1 nerves was performed. Mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) values were calculated from tractography images. Results FA and MD values could be obtained from DTI-FT images in all controls and patients. The mean FA value of the compressed lumbar nerve roots was significantly lower than the FA of the contralateral nerve roots (p=0.0001) and of the nerve roots of volunteers (p=0.0001). MD was significantly higher in compressed nerve roots than in the contralateral nerve root (p=0.0002) and in the nerve roots of volunteers (p=0.04). Conclusion DTI with tractography of the lumbar nerves is possible. Significant changes in diffusion parameters were found in the compressed lumbar nerves.
Eur Radiol (2011) 21:1153–1159 DOI 10.1007/s00330-010-2049-3 Received: 14 July 2010 / Revised: 9 November 2010 / Accepted: 12 November 2010 / Published online: 16 January 2011
