Methodological considerations on diffusion MRI tractography in infants aged 0-2 years: a scoping review

Verschuur, Anouk S., King, Regan, Tax, Chantal M. W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7480-8817, Boomsma, Martijn F., van Wezel-Meijler, Gerda, Leemans, Alexander and Leijser, Lara M. 2024. Methodological considerations on diffusion MRI tractography in infants aged 0-2 years: a scoping review. Pediatric Research 10.1038/s41390-024-03463-2 Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

Diffusion MRI (dMRI) enables studying the complex architectural organization of the brain’s white matter (WM) through virtual reconstruction of WM fiber tracts (tractography). Despite the anticipated clinical importance of applying tractography to study structural connectivity and tract development during the critical period of rapid infant brain maturation, detailed descriptions on how to approach tractography in young infants are limited. Over the past two decades, tractography from infant dMRI has mainly been applied in research settings and focused on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Only few studies used techniques superior to DTI in terms of disentangling information on the brain’s organizational complexity, including crossing fibers. While more advanced techniques may enhance our understanding of the intricate processes of normal and abnormal brain development and extensive knowledge has been gained from application on adult scans, their applicability in infants has remained underexplored. This may partially be due to the higher technical requirements versus the need to limit scan time in young infants. We review various previously described methodological practices for tractography in the infant brain (0–2 years-of-age) and provide recommendations to optimize advanced tractography approaches to enable more accurate reconstructions of the brain WM’s complexity.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	Springer Nature
ISSN:	0031-3998
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	11 September 2024
Date of Acceptance:	24 July 2024
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2024 06:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/172029

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