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- Title
Age-related T2 relaxation times at 3 Tesla as a biomarker of infratentorial brain maturation.
- Authors
Bültmann, Eva; Spineli, Loukia M.; Göhner, Friederike; Hartmann, Hans; Lanfermann, Heinrich
- Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine age-related, infratentorial changes in T relaxation times during infancy and childhood using routine MRI data at 3 Tesla. Methods: One hundred patients (0-199 months) without signal abnormalities on conventional MRI were retrospectively selected from our pool of pediatric MRI examinations. T maps based on our routinely acquired triple-echo turbo spin-echo (TSE) sequence were created. Based on their clinical symptoms, the children were divided into 43 controls and 57 diseased children with different clinical diseases. T relaxation times were measured in 15 infratentorial brain regions (medullary pyramid, ventral and dorsal pons, middle cerebellar peduncle, dentate nucleus, medial and lateral cerebellar hemisphere each on both sides, and in the cerebellar vermis) investigating age-related changes. Secondly, this study examined whether those changes in T values differed between healthy and diseased children. Results: Age significantly reduced T relaxation time in all infratentorial brain regions ( p < 0.05). With increasing age, the T relaxation times decreased continuously, faster in the first 9 months and slower thereafter. Overall, controls did not differ significantly from diseased children ( p > 0.05) apart from the dentate nucleus and cerebellar hemispheres in terms of rapid decline (larger in controls) and the right dorsal pons and left pyramid in terms of slow decline (larger in diseased children). In both groups, the later slow decline was almost negligible. Conclusions: Using T maps, it was possible to determine age-related T relaxation times in the different infratentorial brain regions in this preliminary study. Between neurologically healthy controls and diseased children, no significant differences in T relaxation times could be found overall in the studied regions.
- Subjects
BIOMARKERS; MAGNETIC resonance imaging of the brain; PEDIATRIC radiography; CEREBRAL hemispheres; DENTATE nucleus
- Publication
Child's Nervous System, 2018, Vol 34, Issue 1, p117
- ISSN
0256-7040
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s00381-017-3561-4