The role of diffusion tensor imaging as an objective tool for the assessment of motor function recovery after paraplegia in a naturally-occurring large animal model of spinal cord injury.

Findings suggest that a tendency to the return of DTI values to the physiological situation after surgical decompression accompanies MFR after SCI in paraplegic dogs. DTI may represent a useful and objective clinical tool for follow-up studies examining in vivo SC recovery in treatment studies.