Tractography and Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Human Spinal Cord in Healthy Subjects : Anatomical Atlas (TRACTOCORD)

Today, Spinal cord pathologies, whether are tumoral, vascular, traumatic, malformative, inflammatory, or degenerative still constitute a major medico-surgical challenge due to the particular anatomy of the spinal cord. Indeed, the spinal fibers (whether they have a sensory or motor function) are all condensed in an extremely small volume. To date, there is no reliable technique to know the precise position of the spinal tracts specifically involved in the sensory and motor functions of the upper and lower limbs.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the feasibility for differentiating spinal tracts by tractography from a cerebral Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sequence (associated with an anatomical sequence) by performing a stitching process with spinal cord DTI MRI sequence, in healthy subjects. The criterion of differentiation of the tracts will be assessed by highlighting already known cerebral tracts (cortico-spinal fibers, spinothalamic, posterior cord) and which will be monitored at the spinal level.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Healthy Volunteer
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Spinal cord Tractography in order to differentiate spinal tracts.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 49
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Bron, France, 69500
    • Dauleac Corentin

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 85 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• patient> 18 years old
• Healthy volunteer
• Social insured in France
• Patient who signed the informed consent of the study

Exclusion Criteria:

• Medical or surgical history of disease that may affect the central nervous system, or the spine
• History of spine or spinal cord trauma.
• Spinal osteoarthritis which can lead to a medullary hyper signal.
• Contraindication to MRI: claustrophobia, pace-maker, defibrillator, metallic foreign bodies, etc.
• Subjects benefiting from legal protection (curatorship, guardianship or safeguard of justice).
• Pregnant and / or breastfeeding woman.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Spinal cord Tractography; Healthy volunteer having the tractography exam	Procedure: Spinal cord Tractography in order to differentiate spinal tracts.; Spinal cord tractography using DTI MRI sequences of the brain and spinal cord, in order to differentiate tracts at the spinal cord level; and by performing a stitching process between Brain and Spinal cord DTI sequences.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Spinal tracts differentiation and identification	Percentage of complete tracts identified among healthy volunteer	date of Tractography procedure (DTI MRI)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Spinal cord Tracts Atlas	Elaboration of a tracts classification using a algorithm based on the type, the volume and the fraction of anisotropy and mean diffusivity of each tract	12 months (end of recruitment and exams)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Hospices Civils de Lyon
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: DAULEAC Corentin, Dr, Hospices Civils de Lyon

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Dauleac C, Mertens P, Frindel C, Jacquesson T, Cotton F. Atlas-guided brain projection tracts: From regions of interest to tractography 3D rendering. J Anat. 2025 May;246(5):732-744. doi: 10.1111/joa.14120. Epub 2024 Aug 11.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 5, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 30, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): April 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 21, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 13, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): October 15, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): September 3, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 26, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Tractography, DTI, MRI, spinal cord
• Other Study ID Numbers: 69HCL21_0265; 2021-A02277-34 (Other Identifier: N°ID-RCB)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No