Abstract: This study investigated the clinical value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in assessing spinal cord injury in patients with spinal trauma. Fifty patients with spinal trauma and spinal cord injury were selected as the observation group, and 30 patients without spinal cord injury after spinal surgery injury during the same period were selected as the control group. The magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed in all patients. According to the degree of spinal cord injury, the patients were divided into mild and moderately severe subgroups to compare the DTI parameters, and the receiver operating curve(ROC)was used to analyze the clinical value of each DTI parameter in diagnosing spinal cord injury in patients with spinal cord injury. The results showed that the apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)value, λ1 value and λ2 value of the observation group were significantly higher than those of the control group, and the fractional anisotropy(FA)value was lower than that of the control group (P<0.05). The AUC values of FA value, λ1 value, ADC value and λ2 value for the diagnosis of spinal cord injury were 0.885, 0.877, 0.834 and 0.733, respectively. The ADC value, λ1 value and λ2 value of patients with moderate to severe spinal cord injury were significantly higher than those of patients with mild spinal cord injury, the FA value was lower than that of mild patients (P<0.05). After treatment, the ADC value, λ1 value and λ2 value of the observation group were significantly lower than those before treatment, and the FA value was significantly higher than before treatment (P<0.05). Using MRI DTI parameters to evaluate spinal cord injury in patients with spinal trauma has certain clinical value, and can also evaluate the functional recovery of patients before and after treatment.

Key words: magnetic resonance imaging, spinal trauma, spinal cord injury, magnetic resonace diffusion tensor imaging