In brain MRI, there is often an increased T2 signalling at the posterior columns of the spinal cord in patients with myelopathy caused by copper deficiency. T2 signalling is often an indicator of some kind of neurodegeneration. There are some changes in the spinal cord MRI involving the thoracic cord, the cervical cord or sometimes both. Copper deficiency myelopathy is often compared to subacute combined degeneration (SCD). Subacute combined degeneration is also a degeneration of the spinal cord, but instead vitamin B12 deficiency is the cause of the spinal degeneration. SCD also has the same high T2 signalling intensities in the posterior column as copper deficient patient in MRI imaging.