Neurosurgery
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Percutaneous cordotomy for intractable cancer pain has variable efficacy. One potential cause is the inability to quantify neural ablation. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can quantify microstructural changes within the spinal cord after neural injury. We aimed to determine if DTI metrics within the spinal cord could quantify neural ablation and evaluate early postoperative outcomes. ⋯ DTI of the spinal cord was sensitive to the number of lesions as well as early improvement in pain scores after cordotomy. DTI of the cervical spinal cord is a potential biomarker of neural ablation after percutaneous cordotomy for intractable cancer pain, and may have a role in evaluating patients with a poor outcome after cordotomy.