Abstract
Study design:
Case series.
Objectives:
To quantify spinal cord metabolites and neck muscle fast and slow water diffusion in a small sample of patients with chronic whiplash and healthy controls.
Setting:
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
Methods:
In five subjects with chronic whiplash and seven controls, we performed magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the cervical spinal cord and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the cervical multifidus muscle.
Results:
Significant reductions in N-acetylaspartate/creatine ratios were found in subjects with chronic whiplash when compared with healthy controls (P=0.02). Significantly higher fast apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) were found in chronic whiplash when compared with the healthy controls (P=0.01). There was no difference in slow ADCs between the two groups (P=0.3).
Conclusion:
The potential value of MRS and DWI to quantify the presence of neuromuscular degeneration as a potential mechanism underlying chronic whiplash is recognized. Larger-scaled prospective studies are warranted and required.
Similar content being viewed by others
Log in or create a free account to read this content
Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com
or
References
Siegmund GP, Winkelstein BA, Ivancic PC, Svensson MY, Vasavada A . The anatomy and biomechanics of acute and chronic whiplash injury. Traffic Inj Prev 2009; 10: 101–112.
Elliott J, Jull G, Noteboom JT, Darnell R, Galloway G, Gibbon WW . Fatty infiltration in the cervical extensor muscles in persistent whiplash-associated disorders: a magnetic resonance imaging analysis. Spine (Phila., PA, 1976) 2006; 31: E847–E855.
Blamire AM, Cader S, Lee M, Palace J, Matthews PM . Axonal damage in the spinal cord of multiple sclerosis patients detected by magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med 2007; 58: 880–885.
Holly LT, Freitas B, McArthur DL, Salamon N . Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to evaluate spinal cord axonal injury in cervical spondylotic myelopathy. J Neurosurg Spine 2009; 10: 194–200.
Holl N, Echaniz-Laguna A, Bierry G, Mohr M, Loeffler JP, Moser T et al. Diffusion-weighted MRI of denervated muscle: a clinical and experimental study. Skeletal Radiol 2008; 37: 1111–1117.
Elliott J, Pedler A, Beattie P, McMahon K . Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for the healthy cervical multifidus: a potential method for studying neck muscle physiology following spinal trauma. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2010; 40: 722–728.
Yanagisawa O, Shimao D, Maruyama K, Nielsen M, Irie T, Niitsu M . Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of human skeletal muscles: gender-, age- and muscle-related differences in apparent diffusion coefficient. Magn Reson Imaging 2009; 27: 69–78.
Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by a grant from the Motor Accident Insurance Commision (MAIC)—Queensland, Australia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Disclaimer
We certify that no party having a direct interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on us or on any organization with which we are associated, and, if applicable, we certify that all financial and material support for this research (for example, NIH or NHS grants) and work are clearly identified in the title page of the paper.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Elliott, J., Pedler, A., Cowin, G. et al. Spinal cord metabolism and muscle water diffusion in whiplash. Spinal Cord 50, 474–476 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2011.17
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2011.17
Keywords
This article is cited by
-
Spinal cord injury is not a feature of chronic whiplash-associated disorder: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study
European Spine Journal (2020)
-
Whiplash-Associated Dysphagia: Considerations of Potential Incidence and Mechanisms
Dysphagia (2020)
-
Potential associations between chronic whiplash and incomplete spinal cord injury
Spinal Cord Series and Cases (2015)
-
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of human cervical spondylosis at 3T
Spinal Cord (2013)
