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Tianyu Gao

Alumni

Publications

Upper cervical spinal cord morphometric charts: from population references to individualized clinical assessment
Jiajia Wang
Tiantian Hua
Haiyan Wu
Rui Zhang
Siyao Xu
Cong Zhang
Li Chai
Yajun Yao
Tianyu Gao
Lu Bai
Xiaozhou Du
Chao Zhang
Bingjie Lin
Lifang Liao
Huiying Wang
Yuqi Luo
Xiaoqin Zhu
Demao Deng
Yuankui Wu
Renlong Zhang … (see 14 more)
Zhiqiang Zhang
Fuqing Zhou
Jiajia Zhu
Xi‐Nian Zuo
Shufang Cheng
Xiaona Xia
Xiangshui Meng
Yazhuo Kong
Julien Cohen‐Adad
Ruomi Guo
Shuiwei Xia
Yunyun Duan
Zhizheng Zhuo
Yaou Liu
Abstract The upper cervical spinal cord is essential for motor, sensory and autonomic function, yet its normative morphometric trajectories … (see more)and disease-related deviations remain unclear. Using three-dimensional T1-weighted images from 10,159 healthy individuals aged 8-85 years, we established normative references for averaged and level-specific upper cervical spinal cord morphometry, revealing measure-specific trajectories with peak ages of 29.7-44.1 years. These references were applied to 2,394 patients with seven neurological disorders: mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral small vessel disease, multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease to derive individualized deviation scores. These deviation scores captured disease-specific abnormalities, enabled disease classification, and were associated with cognition, physical disability and disease progression. Finally, a personalized upper cervical spinal cord report was developed to support individualized imaging interpretation. Together, these findings provide a normative framework for quantifying upper cervical spinal cord morphometry and advancing personalized assessment across neurological disorders.
2026-10-11
medRxiv (preprint)
doi.org