- Limited Dorsal Myeloschisis and Congenital Dermal Sinus: Comparison of Clinical and MR Imaging Features
These investigators retrospectively reviewed the clinical and MR imaging findings of 12 patients with limited dorsal myeloschisis and 10 patients with congenital dermal sinus. A crater covered with pale epithelium was the most common skin lesion in limited dorsal myeloschisis (83%). Infectious complications were common in congenital dermal sinus (60%), but not found in limited dorsal myeloschisis. They show that limited dorsal myeloschisis has distinct MR imaging features including a visible intrathecal tract with dorsal tenting of the cord at the tract-cord union.
- Cervical Spinal Cord DTI Is Improved by Reduced FOV with Specific Balance between the Number of Diffusion Gradient Directions and Averages
The authors evaluated multiple parameters of reduced-FOV DTI to optimize image quality. Fifteen healthy individuals underwent cervical spinal cord 3T MRI, including an anatomic 3D Multi-Echo Recombined Gradient Echo, high-resolution full-FOV DTI with a NEX of 3 and 20 diffusion gradient directions, and 5 sets of reduced-FOV DTIs differently balanced in terms of NEX/number of diffusion gradient directions. Qualitatively, reduced-FOV DTI sequences with a NEX of >5 were significantly better rated than the full-FOV DTI and the reduced-FOV DTI with low NEX (N=3) and a high number of diffusion gradient directions (D=20). Quantitatively, the best trade-off was reached by the reduced-FOV DTI with a NEX of 9 and 9 diffusion gradient directions. They conclude that the best compromise was obtained with a NEX of 9 and 9 diffusion gradient directions, which emphasizes the need for increasing the NEX at the expense of the number of diffusion gradient directions for spinal cord DTI, unlike brain imaging.
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