Data from: Can microstructural MRI detect subclinical tissue injury in subjects with asymptomatic cervical spinal cord compression? a prospective cohort study

Objectives: Degenerative 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. Design: Prospective observational longitudinal cohort study. Setting: Single centre, tertiary care and research institution. Participants: 40 neurologically intact subjects (19 female, 21 male) divided into groups with and without ASCC. Interventions: None. Outcome Measures: Clinical assessments: modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) 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 (CSA), diffusion fractional anisotropy (FA), magnetization transfer ratio (MTR), and T2-weighted imaging white to grey matter signal intensity ratio (T2WI WM/GM) extracted from rostral (C1-3), caudal (C6-7), and maximally compressed levels (MCL). Results: ASCC 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