• Benjamin M Ellingson, Noriko Salamon, and Langston T Holly.
• Department of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA; Department of Biomedical Physics, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA; Department of Bioengineering, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
• World Neurosurg. 2014 Dec 1;82(6):1351-8.

BackgroundSpinal imaging plays a critical role in the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). In recent years there has been increasing interest in the development of advanced imaging techniques to provide pertinent microstructural and metabolic information that is not provided by conventional modalities.MethodsThis review details the pathophysiological structural changes that accompany SCI, as well as their imaging correlates. The potential clinical applications of novel spinal cord imaging techniques to SCI are presented.ResultsThere are a variety of novel advanced imaging techniques that are principally focused on the microstructural and/or biochemical function of the spinal cord, and can potentially be applied to traumatic SCI, including diffusion tensor imaging, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, positron emission tomography, single-photon emission computed tomography, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. These techniques are presently in various stages of development, including some whose applications are primarily limited to laboratory investigation, whereas others are being actively used in clinical practice.ConclusionAdvanced imaging of the spinal cord has tremendous potential to provide patient-specific physiological information about the status of cord integrity and health. Advanced spinal cord imaging is still at early stages of development and clinical implementation but is likely to play an increasingly important role in the management of spinal cord health in the foreseeable future.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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