Table 1.
Selection of spinal fMRI studies – task-activated fMRI
| Authors (year) | Title | Subjects | B0; vendor |
Anatomical region |
Pulse sequence |
Voxel size; TR/TE (ms); cardiac gating |
Clinical outcome measure |
Key results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadotte et al. (2012) (13) | Plasticity of the injured human spinal cord: insights revealed by spinal cord functional MRI | Cervical SCI (18) vs. HCs (20) | 3 T; GE and Siemens | Brainstem and C1-T1 | ssTSE (HASTE) | 1.5 × 1.5 × 2 mm3; 9000/38; no | ISNCSCI sensory score | Patients with chronic incomplete SCI, when stimulated in a dermatome of normal sensation, showed an increased number of active voxels relative to controls. |
| Xie et al. (2012) (31) | Reduction of physiological noise with independent component analysis improves the detection of nociceptive responses with fMRI of the human spinal cord | HCs (14) | 3 T; Siemens | C3 – T1 | GE-EPI | 1.6 × 1.6 × 3 mm3 2000/20; no | n/a | Correction of Structured noise using spatial Independent Component Analysis increased sensitivity to detect stimulus-related activation in the targeted dorsal segment of the cord |
| Kornelsen et al. (2013) (32) | Functional MRI of the thoracic spinal cord during vibration sensation | HCs (15) | 3 T; Siemens | T1 – T11 | ssTSE | 1.56 × 1.11 × 2 mm2; 1000/38; no | n/a | Lower thoracic spinal dermatomes on the right side were stimulated by vibration, leading to signal increases in the ipsilateral side |
| Nash et al. (2013) (33) | Functional magnetic resonance imaging identifies somatotopic organization of nociception in the human spinal cord | HCs (10) | 3 T; GE | C4 – C7 | double shot, 3D spiral in-out GE | 1.25 × 1.25 × 4 mm2; 1250/25; no | n/a | fMRI can create high-resolution, neuronal activation maps of the human cervical spinal cord. |
| Rempe et al. (2015) (34) | Spinal and Supraspinal Processing of Thermal Stimuli: An fMRI Study | HC (16) | 3 T; Philips | Thalamus – T7 | ssTSE | 1 × 1 × 2 mm3; 9000/38; no | n/a | Increased activity was observed in ipsi- and contralateral ventral and dorsal spinal horn during noxious heat and heat allodynia. |
| Stroman et al. (2016) (14) | Changes in Pain Processing in the Spinal Cord and Brainstem after Spinal Cord Injury Characterized by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging | Cervical (14) and thoracic (2) SCI | 3 T Siemens and GE | Thalamus – T1 | ssTSE | 1.5 × 1.5 × 2 mm3; 6750/7 6; no | ISNCSCI scores and AIS grade | fMRI may provide sensitive indicators of each individual’s pain response, and information about the mechanisms of altered pain sensitivity |
| Zhong et al. (2017) (15) | Cervical spinal functional magnetic resonance imaging of the spinal cord injured patient during electrical stimulation | Cervical SCI (7) and HCs (7) | 1.5 T; GE | C4 – C7 | ssTSE | 0.47 × 0.47 × 7 mm3; 1075.9/43; no | ISNCSCI scores | Significant functional activation was observed mainly in the right side of the spinal cord at the level of the C5–C6 cervical vertebra |
SCI: spinal cord injury; HC: healthy control; ssTSE: single shot turbo spin echo; ISNCSCI: international standards for neurological classification of spinal cord injury; GE-EPI: gradient echo echo planar imaging; AIS: American spinal injury association impairment scale