INTRODUCTION: MRI is increasingly recognised as a valuable tool for assessing prognosis and predicting outcomes following traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Several potential MRI biomarkers have been identified, but efforts are still needed to improve the accuracy and feasibility of these biomarkers in clinical practice. This study aims to build a national Canadian SCI imaging repository for storing and analysing imaging data for SCI, with the goal of improving SCI MRI biomarkers to predict outcomes and inform clinical management. METHOD AND ANALYSIS: As a substudy of the Rick Hansen SCI Registry (RHSCIR), this retrospective multisite study includes individuals who sustained a traumatic cervical SCI between 2015 and 2021, were previously enrolled in RHSCIR, and had MRI scans acquired within 72 hours of injury and before any surgical intervention. Individuals with a penetrating trauma and/or with any prior spine surgery are excluded. The study principal investigator and research associates, experienced with data curation and with the standardised format and specifications of the Brain Imaging Data Structure standard, guide the site's curator on the steps to perform image deidentification and curation to create standardised datasets across all sites. These datasets are transferred to a Digital Research Alliance of Canada ('the Alliance') server designated for this project and concatenated to form the national Canadian SCI imaging repository (Neurogitea). We are using a semiautomated processing pipeline to quantify lesion morphology, together with additional imaging measures that are manually extracted from the images (for instance, the relative maximal spinal cord compression and the maximum canal compromise). Through linkage to RHSCIR clinical and epidemiological data already available on eligible participants, regression analysis is planned to predict neurological outcomes at discharge, including the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grade, upper and lower extremity motor and sensory scores. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This protocol has been submitted by the participating sites to obtain ethics and institutional approvals prior to the study initiation at each site. All 12 sites across Canada have now obtained ethics and institutional approvals. Study results will be disseminated at local, national and international conferences and by journal publications.

Centre de Recherche du CHU Sainte Justine Université de Montréal Montreal Québec Canada

Centre Hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal University of Montreal Montreal Québec Canada

Department of Clinical Neurosciences Saint John Regional Hospital Saint John New Brunswick Canada

Department of Clinical Neurosciences University of Calgary Calgary Alberta Canada

Department of Neurology Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Palacký University Olomouc Olomouc Czechia

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Palacký University Olomouc Olomouc Czechia

Department of Radiology Cumming School of Medicine University of Calgary Calgary Alberta Canada

Department of Surgery College of Medicine University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada

Department of Surgery Hamilton Health Sciences Hamilton Ontario Canada

Department of Surgery Hôpital du Sacré Coeur de Montréal Montreal Québec Canada

Department of Surgery McMaster University Hamilton Ontario Canada

Department of Surgery University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia Canada

Department of Surgery University of Montreal Montreal Québec Canada

Division of Neurosurgery Department of Surgery College of Medicine University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada

Division of Neurosurgery Department of Surgery University of Toronto Toronto Ontario Canada

Division of Neurosurgery Krembil Neuroscience Centre Toronto Western Hospital Toronto Ontario Canada

Division of Orthopaedic Surgery CHU de Quebec Universite Laval Quebec Québec Canada

Functional Neuroimaging Unit CRIUGM Université de Montréal Montreal Québec Canada

Hotchkiss Brain Institute Cumming School of Medicine University of Calgary Calgary Alberta Canada

Mila Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute Montreal Québec Canada

NeuroPoly Lab Institute of Biomedical Engineering Polytechnique Montreal Montreal Québec Canada

Praxis Spinal Cord Institute Vancouver British Columbia Canada

QEII Health Sciences Centre Halifax Nova Scotia Canada

St Michael's Hospital University of Toronto Toronto Ontario Canada

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Toronto Ontario Canada

University of Calgary Combined Orthopedic and Neurosurgery Spine Program Calgary Alberta Canada

University of Ottawa The Ottawa Hospital Ottawa Ontario Canada

Vancouver Spine Institute Vancouver General Hospital Vancouver British Columbia Canada

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Monitoring morphometric drift in lifelong learning segmentation of the spinal cord