Fig 1.
Gray matter regions of interest (ROIs) definition in the cervical spinal cord.
The rsfMRI scanning field of view (FOV) and slice location that cover vertebrae C1 to C7 (a); the gray matter was drawn on post-processed echo planar imaging (EPI) images (b); the gray matter ROI was then delineated and split into ROI1 (ventral horn) and ROI2 (dorsal horn) (c); left and right parts of each horn were also furtherly separated; finally 60 ROIs were extracted from each subject (d).
Table 1.
ALFF values of healthy subjects and CSM patients (mean ± SEM).
Fig 2.
ALFF comparison between healthy subjects and CSM patients.
In the whole cervical cord (CC) and each segment from C2 to C6, amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) had the trend of healthy subjects < CSM patients. From two sample t-test results, all of the differences were significant (a). After separating CSM patients into mild (JOA≥13, 8 patients, age = 49±11 years, age ranged from 26 to 67 years) and severe (JOA<13, 10 patients, age = 67±7 years, age ranged from 59 to 83 years) groups, Anterior-Posterior Compression Ratio (APCR) of each patients in mild and severe groups was compared. The difference of APCR between mild and severe CSM patients was not significant (b). ALFF had the trend of mild CSM patients < severe CSM patients. From two sample t-test results, all of the differences were significant (c) (*: P<0.05, significant, ns: P>0.05, not significant).
Fig 3.
Linear regression between age and ALFF values in healthy subjects.
The linear regression result showed that ALFF was not affected by age.