Experimental spinal cord injury: MR correlation to intensity of injury.
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to determine the association between lesion length measured on MRI and the severity of mechanical injury in a rat model of spinal cord trauma.


METHODS
Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a modified Allen weight drop injury and killed 4 h after injury. Their fixed, exercised cords were studied with MRI at 1.9 T.


RESULTS
There were strong correlations between lesion length on MR images and weight drop height and square root of drop height (r2 = 0.55, p < 0.0001 and r2 = 0.63, p < 0.0001, respectively). The lesion length differences were significant versus controls for all drop heights at p values of < or = 0.002 and for the 2.5 cm animals versus the 5 and 15 cm animals (p = 0.01 and p = 0.0002, respectively), but the lengths of the 5 vs. 15 cm groups only approached significance (p = 0.06).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that lesion length determined on MR images is a reliable indicator of the severity of trauma among animals subjected to weight drop injury.
Hackney
D B
DB
Department of Radiology, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104.
Ford
J C
JC
Markowitz
R S
RS
Hand
C M
CM
Joseph
P M
PM
Black
P
P
D000818:Animals; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology