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Updated: Dec 29, 2025
Making MR Imaging Child's Play - Pediatric Neuroimaging Protocol, Guidelines and Procedure
Published on: July 30, 2009
Individualised MRI training for paediatric neuroimaging: A child-focused approach
Emmanuel Peng Kiat Pua1, Sarah Barton2, Katrina Williams3
1Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia; Developmental Imaging, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Australia.
Insights
An individualized Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) training procedure helps children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) tolerate scanners better. This child-focused approach improves pediatric neuroimaging quality for clinical populations.
Area of Science:
- Neuroimaging
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Medicine
Background:
- Pediatric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is frequently hindered by patient motion and reluctance to undergo scanning.
- Children with neurodevelopmental disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), face heightened challenges in MRI settings due to sensory sensitivities and distress.
- Head motion in pediatric neuroimaging can significantly degrade image quality or render data unusable.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate an individualized MRI training procedure for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
- To enhance tolerance of the MRI scanner environment in pediatric populations with ASD.
- To improve the quality of neuroimaging data acquired from children with ASD.
Main Methods:
- An individualized, child-focused MRI training protocol was implemented, incorporating a pre-visit interview, familiarization package, and personalized rewards.
- A medical imaging mobile application was used to familiarize participants with the multi-sensory aspects of the MRI experience through interactive games.
- The training procedure was tested on 12 monozygotic twins (6 pairs, ages 7.1-12.9 years) with varying ASD status (concordant or discordant).
Main Results:
- MRI image quality indices from the trained ASD cohort were comparable or superior to those from a large, independent multi-center ASD cohort.
- The individualized training procedure demonstrated effectiveness in improving participants' ability to tolerate the MRI environment.
- No significant differences in image quality were observed between ASD-concordant and ASD-discordant twins, suggesting the training's broad applicability.
Conclusions:
- Child-focused, individualized MRI training strategies can significantly improve the quality of neuroimaging in pediatric populations, particularly those with ASD.
- Familiarization techniques, including mobile applications and personalized rewards, are effective in mitigating motion artifacts and enhancing scan completion rates.
- This approach holds promise for improving diagnostic accuracy and research capabilities in pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders.
Abstract:
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in paediatric cohorts is often complicated by reluctance to enter the scanner and head motion-related imaging artefacts. The process is particularly challenging for children with neurodevelopmental disorders where coping with novel task demands in an unfamiliar setting may be more difficult due to symptom-related deficits or distress. These issues often give rise to excessive head motion that can significantly reduce the quality of images acquired, or render data unusable. Here we report an individualised MRI training procedure that enables children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to better tolerate the MRI scanner environment based on a child-focused approach and individualised familiarisation strategies, including a pre-visit interview, familiarisation package, and personalised rewards. A medical imaging mobile application was utilised to familiarise participants to multi-sensory aspects of the neuroimaging experience through a variety of themed mini-games and activities. The MRI training procedure was implemented for monozygotic twins (n = 12; 6 twin pairs; age range 7.1-12.9 years) concordant or discordant for ASD. MRI image quality indices were better or comparable to images acquired from a large independent multi-centre ASD cohort. Present findings are promising and suggest that child-focused strategies could improve the quality of paediatric neuroimaging in clinical populations.
