Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
MRI methods compared for spinal cord injury in dogs with disc
By Shinn, Richard et al.·Published in Veterinary radiology & ultrasound : the official journal of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the International Veterinary Radiology Association·2022·Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: MRI diffusion tensor imaging scalar values in dogs with intervertebral disc herniation: A comparison between manual and semiautomated region of interest methods.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 65 dogs with intervertebral disc herniation (IVDH) underwent MRI scans to assess spinal cord injury and predict recovery. Researchers compared two methods for measuring spinal cord damage: a manual method and a semiautomated method. They found that the manual method provided higher and more favorable measurements, while both methods indicated that lower values were linked to dogs that did not regain movement. This suggests that using these imaging techniques can help veterinarians better understand the severity of spinal injuries in dogs with IVDH and predict outcomes more accurately.
People also search for: dog intervertebral disc herniation MRI · dog spinal cord injury recovery · dog paraplegic treatment options
Abstract
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures have been described as methods for quantifying spinal cord injury and predicting outcome in dogs with intervertebral disc herniation (IVDH); however, studies comparing methods for selecting regions of interest (ROIs) are currently lacking. The aims of this retrospective, methods comparison, observational study were to compare DTI measurements acquired using manual (mROI) versus semiautomated ROI (sROI) methods and to compare DTI measurements with patient outcomes. Magnetic resonance imaging scans that included DTI pulse sequences were retrieved for 65 dogs with confirmed IVDH. Regions of interest were placed at one vertebral length cranial and caudal to the region of spinal cord compression (RSCC) using the mROI and sROI methods. Scalar values based on the mROI and sROI methods were compared. There was a significant difference for all DTI measures (P < 0.0001), where fractional anisotropy was higher (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.15, 0.19) and mean diffusivity (MD; CI: -0.41, -0.35), axial diffusivity (AD; CI: -0.47, -0.36) and radial diffusivity (RD; CI: -0.36, -0.27) were lower for the mROI than for the sROI. For both the mROI and sROI, MD, AD, and RD were significantly lower (p < 0.05) at the RSCC in paraplegic dogs that did not regain motor function. The findings indicated that DTI methods for quantifying SCI using open source software and ROI were feasible for use in dogs with IVDH; however, values based on sROI methods differed from values based on mROI methods. Some DTI measures based on both the mROI and sROI methods were predictive of poor patient outcome.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35789512/