Normal patients. To date the only information regarding the values for diffusion within the spinal cord comes from a limited number of studies on normal, adult, volunteers. It is known that the diffusion properties of the brain vary significantly with age and it is expected that the diffusion properties of the spine will show a similar variation. Thus, in order to be able to properly interpret the results of the studies on children with suspected pathology it is necessary to have a control group in order to allow normal values for different age ranges to be established.