Structural brain changes in subacute spinal cord injury: an analysis of diffusion kurtosis imaging and diffusion tensor imaging metrics with clinical correlation.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) can quantify indices related to brain structure and their change in pathology. However, only few studies have applied these techniques to spinal cord injury (SCI), and subtle microstructural changes in the brain of SCI individuals are not well understood. Our goal was to investigate structural changes in the brain using DTI (fractional anisotropy, FA; mean diffusivity, MD) and DKI parameters (kurtosis anisotropy, KA; mean kurtosis, MK) in subacute SCI and to study whether these changes were associated with clinical outcomes.

Methods

Twenty-eight individuals with SCI underwent brain MRI 3 months post-injury, alongside 20 healthy controls. Imaging included a multi-shell diffusion protocol, from wh

SUBMITTER: Christiaanse E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12698660 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature