{ "abstract": "Introduction MRI is increasingly recognised as a valuable tool for assessing prognosis and predicting outcomes following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Several potential MRI biomarkers have been identified, but efforts are still needed to improve the accuracy and feasibility of these biomarkers in clinical practice. This study aims to build a national Canadian SCI imaging repository for storing and analysing imaging data for SCI, with the goal of improving SCI MRI biomarkers to predict outcomes and inform clinical management.Method and analysis As a substudy of the Rick Hansen SCI Registry (RHSCIR), this retrospective multisite study includes individuals who sustained a traumatic cervical SCI between 2015 and 2021, were previously enrolled in RHSCIR, and had MRI scans acquired within 72 hours of injury and before any surgical intervention. Individuals with a penetrating trauma and/or with any prior spine surgery are excluded. The study principal investigator and research associates, experienced with data curation and with the standardised format and specifications of the Brain Imaging Data Structure standard, guide the site’s curator on the steps to perform image deidentification and curation to create standardised datasets across all sites. These datasets are transferred to a Digital Research Alliance of Canada (‘the Alliance’) server designated for this project and concatenated to form the national Canadian SCI imaging repository (Neurogitea). We are using a semiautomated processing pipeline to quantify lesion morphology, together with additional imaging measures that are manually extracted from the images (for instance, the relative maximal spinal cord compression and the maximum canal compromise). Through linkage to RHSCIR clinical and epidemiological data already available on eligible participants, regression analysis is planned to predict neurological outcomes at discharge, including the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grade, upper and lower extremity motor and sensory scores.Ethics and dissemination This protocol has been submitted by the participating sites to obtain ethics and institutional approvals prior to the study initiation at each site. All 12 sites across Canada have now obtained ethics and institutional approvals. Study results will be disseminated at local, national and international conferences and by journal publications.", "authors": [ { "affiliations": [ "Praxis Spinal Cord Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada" ], "name": "Naama Rotem-Kohavi" }, { "affiliations": [ "Praxis Spinal Cord Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada" ], "name": "Suzanne Humphreys" }, { "affiliations": [ "Praxis Spinal Cord Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada" ], "name": "Vanessa K Noonan" }, { "affiliations": [ "Praxis Spinal Cord Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada" ], "name": "Christiana L Cheng" }, { "affiliations": [ "NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada" ], "name": "Mathieu Guay-Paquet" }, { "affiliations": [ "NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, University of Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada" ], "name": "Maxime Bouthillier" }, { "affiliations": [ "NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Mila—Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia", "Department of Neurosurgery, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia" ], "name": "Jan Valošek" }, { "affiliations": [ "NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Mila—Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, Québec, Canada" ], "name": "Enamundram Naga Karthik" }, { "affiliations": [ "NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada" ], "name": "Emma Lichtenstein" }, { "affiliations": [ "NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada" ], "name": "Nick Guenther" }, { "affiliations": [ "NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada" ], "name": "Kalum Ost" }, { "affiliations": [ "Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Saint John Regional Hospital, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada" ], "name": "Naj Attabib" }, { "affiliations": [ "Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada" ], "name": "Michael Hardisty" }, { "affiliations": [ "Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada" ], "name": "Jetan Badhiwala" }, { "affiliations": [ "Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada" ], "name": "Jeremie Larouche" }, { "affiliations": [ "Department of Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada", "Department of Surgery, Hamilton Health Sciences, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada" ], "name": "Markian Pahuta" }, { "affiliations": [ "QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada" ], "name": "Sean Christie" }, { "affiliations": [ "Division of Neurosurgery, Krembil Neuroscience Centre, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada", "Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada" ], "name": "Michael G Fehlings" }, { "affiliations": [ "Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada", "Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada" ], "name": "Daryl Fourney" }, { "affiliations": [ "Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada", "Vancouver Spine Institute, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada" ], "name": "Brian K Kwon" }, { "affiliations": [ "Department of Surgery, University of Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Department of Surgery, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada" ], "name": "Jean Marc Mac-Thiong" }, { "affiliations": [ "Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, CHU de Quebec-Universite Laval, Quebec, Québec, Canada" ], "name": "Jérôme Paquet" }, { "affiliations": [ "University of Ottawa, The Ottawa Hospital, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada" ], "name": "Philippe Phan" }, { "affiliations": [ "St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada" ], "name": "Christopher Witiw" }, { "affiliations": [ "NeuroPoly Lab, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Mila—Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Functional Neuroimaging Unit, CRIUGM, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada", "Centre de Recherche du CHU Sainte-Justine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada" ], "name": "Julien Cohen-Adad" }, { "affiliations": [ "Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada", "University of Calgary Combined Orthopedic and Neurosurgery Spine Program, Calgary, Alberta, Canada", "Department of Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada", "Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada" ], "name": "David W Cadotte" } ], "title": "Building a library of acute traumatic spinal cord injury images across Canada: a retrospective cohort study protocol", "uid": "6cfd1b4a-78b5-5fd8-be10-b553e3eaac72" }