Perfusion imaging in the pediatric patient
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Updated: Oct 6, 2026
Whole-body PET/MRI of Pediatric Patients: The Details That Matter
Published on: December 19, 2017
1Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Insights
Cerebrovascular disease in children is common, often missed by clinicians. Advanced MRI techniques like perfusion imaging help differentiate causes of brain changes beyond simple blood flow reduction.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neuroradiology
- Neuroimaging
- Cerebrovascular Diseases
Background:
- Cerebrovascular disease prevalence in children is underestimated.
- Many MR imaging signal alterations in pediatric CNS conditions stem from non-perfusion causes.
- Distinguishing between ischemic injury and other pathologies like demyelination or edema is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the utility of advanced MRI techniques in pediatric neuroimaging.
- To emphasize the role of perfusion imaging in assessing cerebral hemodynamics in children.
- To differentiate ischemic injury from other conditions affecting T2 relaxation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized conventional MR imaging.
- Employed diffusion imaging to assess tissue water changes.
- Applied perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI), including exogenous contrast bolus dynamic PWI.
Main Results:
- Perfusion imaging is valuable for assessing hemodynamic components in pediatric CNS diseases.
- Exogenous contrast bolus dynamic PWI aids in differentiating ischemic injury from demyelination and edema.
- PWI is effective in evaluating CNS diseases related to neoplasms, therapy complications, occlusive disease, arteriopathies, and trauma.
Conclusions:
- Perfusion imaging is a robust tool for evaluating hemodynamic changes in pediatric central nervous system (CNS) disorders.
- Advanced MRI techniques offer critical insights beyond conventional imaging for childhood brain conditions.
- Accurate diagnosis in pediatric cerebrovascular disease relies on comprehensive imaging assessment.
Abstract:
The prevalence of cerebrovascular disease in children is much higher than most clinicians and neuroradiologists suspect, when all primary and secondary causes are considered. Most signal alterations found on MR imaging in childhood central nervous system pathologic conditions result from causes other than a decrease in tissue perfusion. In addition to conventional MR imaging, the ability to assess changes in tissue water by diffusion imaging and tissue perfusion by perfusion-weighted imaging can prove useful to asses cerebral hemodynamics in various pathologic disorders. Exogenous contrast bolus dynamic perfusion-weighted imaging is especially useful in children to differentiate between ischemic injury and other conditions that may alter T2 relaxation, such as demyelination and edema. Perfusion imaging has proved to be a robust and valuable tool to assess the hemodynamic component in childhood CNS disease related to neoplasms and complications from their therapy, cerebrovascular occlusive disease, childhood CNS arteriopathies and trauma.
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