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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Sep 28, 2025; 17(9): 110267
Published online Sep 28, 2025. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i9.110267
Published online Sep 28, 2025. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v17.i9.110267
Magnetic resonance tractography of the cervical spine: A rapid diffusion tensor imaging protocol to serve as a clinical evaluation tool
Emilio P Supsupin, Alejandro Serrano, Christopher Louviere, Luke Pearson, Mauricio Hernandez, Mayur Virarkar, Kazim Z Gumus, Department of Radiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL 32209, United States
Vashisht Sekar, Aboubakr Amer, Ulas Cikla, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville, FL 32209, United States
Co-corresponding authors: Alejandro Serrano and Kazim Z Gumus.
Author contributions: Supsupin EP conception and design of the study, supervision; Serrano A manuscript writing; analyzed data; Louviere C manuscript writing; analyzed data; Pearson L data curation; literature review; Hernandez M data curation; statistical analysis, manuscript revision; Virarkar M analyzed data; manuscript revision; Gumus KZ project supervision; analyzed data, final approval of the manuscript; Sekar V conceptual input; manuscript revision; Amer A conceptual input; manuscript revision; Cikla U conceptual input; manuscript revision. All authors contributed to this paper with the conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and approval of the final version. We would like to clarify that two co-corresponding authors are listed because one of the authors has since left the institution and will no longer have access to their institutional email. Including both authors ensures continuity in correspondence and availability for any future queries regarding the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study involved retrospective analysis of anonymized human data. In accordance with institutional policy, it did not require approval from the Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was not required for this study, as it involved retrospective analysis of de-identified data in accordance with institutional policies and applicable regulations.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this manuscript.
Data sharing statement:
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Alejandro Serrano, MD, Research Fellow, Department of Radiology, University of Florida College of Medicine, 655 8th St W, Jacksonville, FL 32209, United States. alejandro.serrano@jax.ufl.edu
Received: June 3, 2025
Revised: June 21, 2025
Accepted: September 9, 2025
Published online: September 28, 2025
Processing time: 115 Days and 16.7 Hours
Revised: June 21, 2025
Accepted: September 9, 2025
Published online: September 28, 2025
Processing time: 115 Days and 16.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study demonstrates the utility of cervical spinal cord MR tractography in characterizing various spinal cord pathologies, including trauma, demyelination, and neoplasms. By analyzing fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity across lesion sites and adjacent levels, tractography revealed microstructural changes not visible on conventional magnetic resonance imaging. The findings support tractography as a promising adjunct tool for diagnosis, surgical planning, and treatment follow-up, offering unique insights into fiber integrity in spinal cord disease.