title: Diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging of the normal human cervical spinal cord.
abstract: We obtained diffusion-weighted echo planar images of the human cervical cord in vivo and correlated them with histopathologic findings. Images were obtained in 17 healthy volunteers using a 1.5 T clinical MR unit. When motion-probing gradients were added perpendicular to the long axis of the cord, the white matter was hyperintense because of anisotropic diffusion. However, the gracile fasciculus was hypointense probably due to the small diameter of neural fibers and the large extracellular space.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Hiroshima Prefectural Hiroshima Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagayoshi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kimura
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ochi
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okimoto
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakebe
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Saiki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000033:anatomy & histology*