Objective: To utilize Spinal Cord Toolbox (SCT) to measure the morphological parameters of healthy cervical spinal cords and explore the impact of gender, age and vertebral levels on them.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted, collecting cervical spinal cord magnetic resonance images of 184 healthy adults. Then, cross-sectional area (CSA), eccentricity, antero-posterior diameter (AP) and right-left diameter (RL) were each computed for every subject. Then, impacts of gender, age and vertebral level on CSA and eccentricity were explored. Moreover, linear correlation analysis was conducted among CSA, AP and RL.
Results: The CSA of the cervical spinal cord in males was significantly larger than that in females at C2~C7 segments (P＜0.05) . For C2~C6 segments, there was no statistically significant difference in CSA between the young and middle-aged groups, but both were significantly larger than that of the elderly group. CSA of C4 was the largest whereas CSA of C7 was the smallest. Eccentricity values of C4 and C5 were significantly larger than those of other vertebral levels (P＜0.05). Linear correlation was established between CSA, AP and RL at C2~C7 segments.
Conclusion: The results allow for minimizing inter-subject variability using normalization, and thereby highlighting the importance of morphological parameters as biomarkers in the research of cervical spinal lesions.
目的: 使用脊髓分析平台（Spinal Cord Toolbox, SCT）测定健康颈髓的形态学参数并研究性别、年龄和节段对这些参数的影响。.
方法: 采用回顾性研究方法，收集184名健康被试的颈髓磁共振图像并计算其形态学参数，研究性别、年龄、节段对横截面积（cross-sectional area, CSA）与离心率的影响，对不同颈髓节段的横截面积、前后径（antero-posterior diameter, AP）及左右径（right-left diameter, RL）进行相关性分析。.
结果: 男性的颈髓横截面积在C2~C7节段均显著大于女性（P＜0.05）。在C2~C6节段，青年组与中年组横截面积的差别无统计学意义且均显著大于老年组。C4节段的横截面积最大，C7节段的横截面积最小，C4和C5节段的离心率显著大于其他节段（P＜0.05）。在C2~C7节段，CSA与AP、RL均存在线性关系。.
结论: 该研究对今后通过归一化方法减少个体间差异，利用上述形态学参数作为生物标志物研究颈髓病变具有重要意义。.
Keywords: Spinal Cord Toolbox (SCT); cervical spinal cord; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); morphological parameters.