Fig. 2

Patient with spinal cord compression at cervical level C5/6. A Sagittal T2w MRI, lines indicating axial levels C2 and C5. B1 Axial magnitude. B2 Axial phase-imaging at level C2, spinal cord and CSF-space can be is easily distinguished. The gray-level within the phase-images encode the measured velocities in cranio-caudal direction, dark gray velocities in caudal direction, light vice versa. Bright white or black are aliasing effect. The gray intensity signal of the spinal cord is similar to the surrounding neck tissues. C Axial phase-imaging at level of stenosis C5; there is barely any CSF-space left, only minor CSF-motion can be seen at the left side of the spinal cord (arrow). The gray intensity signal of the spinal cord is much darker than the surrounding neck tissues. D1 Sagittal magnitude. D2 Sagittal phase-imaging. Here, light gray signals encode cranio-caudal velocities and dark gray encodes the opposite direction. At the level of stenosis, a local increase in spinal cord motion can be observed (arrow)