title: 7T MRI of spinal cord injury.
abstract: A man with 25 years of mild left neck, arm, and leg paresthesias had initial MRI in 1996 identifying a left C3-4 dorsal horn cavernous hemangioma. In 1997, hemorrhage (C3-7) and resection induced left arm > leg proprioceptive loss and clumsiness. Three months after surgical resection, left upper-body pain recurred; 2 years later, disabling colocalizing itch recurred.(1) In 2012, ultra-high-resolution 7T MRI (figure) localized hemosiderin to specific dorsal horn laminae and detected rostral (C1-3) hypersignal invisible on conventional MRIs, most likely representing Wallerian degeneration.(2) These new imaging findings demonstrate the benefit of high-field spinal cord MRI and generate the hypothesis that his late-onset central itch might be related to delayed white matter degeneration.
authors.affiliation: jcohen@polymtl.ca
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cohen-Adad
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Lawrence L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Wald
authors.forename: Anne Louise
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Oaklander
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology*; D020786:Hemangioma, Cavernous, Central Nervous System / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D046748:Hematoma, Epidural, Spinal / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology*; D014855:Wallerian Degeneration / Q000473:pathology*