A Preliminary Observation of Intra-Operative Ultrasound Backscatter Microscopy of Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating clinical condition. In order to bridge the spinal cord defects, the precise localization and identification of lesions during spinal surgery is necessary. The present experimental investigation was to explore whether the spinal cord lesions could be visualized more exact using ultrasound backscatter microscopy and to correlate the findings with those of light microscopy. The results showed that high frequency ultrasound microscopy imaging can identify normal and morphologic changes occurring after experimental spinal cord cut off injury in adult rats. These conclusions high-frequency intra-operative ultrasound backscatter microscopy has obvious clinical value for the guidance of spinal surgery, and for further clinical experiment employing ultrasound microscopy imaging to carry out nerve regeneration strategies and cell-based transplantation strategies in the injured spinal cord.