MRI evidence of brain atrophy, white matter damage, and functional adaptive changes in patients with cervical spondylosis and prolonged spinal cord compression.

• This study suggests that patients with cervical spondylosis may present anatomical and functional adaptive changes in the brain. • Cervical spondylosis may lead to white matter damage, gray matter volume loss, and functional adaptive changes in the sensorimotor cortex. • The results reported in this work may be of value to better understand the effect of prolonged cervical spine compression in the brain.