Cord cross-sectional area at foramen magnum as a correlate of disability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Spinal cord atrophy is one of the hallmarks of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); however, it is not routinely assessed in routine clinical practice. In the present study, we evaluated whether spinal cord cross-sectional area measured at the foramen magnum level using a magnetic resonance imaging head scan represents a clinically meaningful measure to be added to the whole-brain volume assessment. Using an active surface approach, we measured the cord area at the foramen magnum and brain parenchymal fraction on T1-weighted three-dimensional spoiled gradient recalled head scans in two groups of subjects: 23 patients with ALS (males/females, 13/10; mean ± standard deviation [SD] age 61.7 ± 10.3 years; median ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised score 39, range 27-46) and 18 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers (mean ± SD age 55.7 ± 10.2 years). Spinal cord area at the foramen magnum was significantly less in patients than in control subjects and was significantly correlated with disability as measured with the ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ρ = 0.593, p <  0.005). This correlation remained significant after taking into account inter-individual differences in brain parenchymal fraction (ρ = 0.684, p <  0.001). Our data show that spinal cord area at the foramen magnum correlates with disability in ALS independently of whole-brain atrophy, thus indicating its potential as a disease biomarker.