MRI of wallerian degeneration of the injured spinal cord.
OBJECTIVE
We assessed the MR appearance of wallerian degeneration following spinal cord injury.


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the MR examinations of 13 patients with spinal cord injury. Thirty-one MR examinations were performed at various time intervals (1 day to 4 years) following injury.


RESULTS
High signal intensity was observed in six patients (11 examinations) at the level of the posterior columns cephalad to the primary injury site on T2-weighted and proton density-weighted imaging at 10 week to 12 month intervals postinjury. In these six patients the posterior column was involved at the primary injury site.


CONCLUSIONS
The abnormal intensity cephalad to the injury site is thought to represent wallerian degeneration, which should be considered in the differential diagnoses of spinal intramedullary lesions.
Department of Radiology, Kushiro Rosai Hospital, Kushiro City, Japan.
S
S
Terae
H
H
Taneichi
K
K
Abumi
D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D014855:Wallerian Degeneration