• Rutges Joost P H J JPHJ 0000-0002-9452-415X Department of Orthopaedics, Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, Vancouver Spine Surgery Institute, University of B, Brian K Kwon, Manraj Heran, Tamir Ailon, John T Street, and Marcel F Dvorak.
• Department of Orthopaedics, Blusson Spinal Cord Centre, Vancouver Spine Surgery Institute, University of British Columbia, 818 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z1M9, Canada.
• Eur Spine J. 2017 Sep 1; 26 (9): 2324-2332.

PurposeIn acute traumatic cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) patients, we sought to characterize how objective MRI measures of injury change during the first 3 week post-injury.MethodsSix MRI scans each were planned in 19 cervical SCI patients within the first 3 week post-injury. Length of cord edema, maximum spinal cord compression, maximum canal compromise, and presence and length of hematoma were measured.ResultsLength of spinal cord edema increased in the first 48 h after SCI, followed by a gradual decrease in the 3 weeks after injury. This was predominantly seen in the more severe grades of SCI. Hematoma in the spinal cord was seen in all AIS-A and B patients.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the dynamic nature of imaging changes on MRI in the first weeks after injury and highlights the importance of taking into account the timing of imaging when interpreting objective measures of damage.

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