Scanning Dos and Don'ts: Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Awake Children Aged 3 to 5 Years to Assess Brain...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric neuroimaging
• Developmental neuroscience
• Brain imaging techniques

Background:

• Early childhood (3-5 years) is critical for brain development, impacting language, memory, and socioemotional skills.
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) presents challenges in young children due to motion, attention, and compliance issues.
• Advances in neuroimaging, like shorter scans and motion correction, have improved pediatric data acquisition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a pediatric neuroimaging protocol designed to enhance the scanning experience for young children.
• To improve the quality of developmental neuroimaging data obtained from children aged 3-5 years.
• To provide data on scan preparation, duration, and success rates for structural and functional MRI in this age group.

Main Methods:

• Development and implementation of a specialized pediatric neuroimaging protocol.
• Collection of data from four neuroimaging studies conducted over 11 years in a single laboratory.
• Evaluation of scan preparation time, total scan duration, and success rates for MRI scans.

Main Results:

• The protocol aims to optimize the scanning environment for young participants.
• Results indicate expected timelines and success rates for pediatric MRI scans using the protocol.
• Data quality and participant cooperation are key factors addressed by the protocol.

Conclusions:

• The presented pediatric neuroimaging protocol can improve young children's MRI experience and data quality.
• This protocol is valuable for large-scale studies tracking early brain development, such as the HEALthy Child and Brain Development study.
• Successful neuroimaging in early childhood is essential for understanding normative and atypical brain development.