Multichannel Coils and Motion Correction for Developing Brain

儿童脑部疾病如创伤、肿瘤、癫痫、自闭症等发育障碍常见于5岁以下儿童。生命的前5年也是大脑发育的关键，因为神经元的发育和髓鞘的形成。在这个快速生长和发育的时期，大脑极易受到损伤、暴露或基因表达错误的影响。与成人一样，核磁共振成像是评估儿童大脑的首选方式，但目前商业供应商对儿科人群的服务不足。没有一个主要的供应商提供最先进的儿科大小的头线圈和第三方供应商做，使用过时的技术。由于扫描时间长，且可能出现运动伪影，MR需要镇静或麻醉。此外，镇静和麻醉本身也有风险，特别是对非常年幼的儿童，降低了核磁共振的可用性，增加了核磁共振扫描的成本。因此，尽管CT对未成熟大脑的实质异常特别不敏感，并且辐射引起认知缺陷的风险增加，但它经常被选择。该项目的总体目标是创建特定年龄的32通道头部线圈和加速运动不敏感脉冲序列，从而在15分钟内为5岁以下的儿童提供高质量的无镇静扫描。该项目的具体目标是：具体目标1：设计、开发和测试32个通道头线圈，适用于足月婴儿、6个月婴儿、1岁婴儿和2 - 4岁婴儿。具体目标2：设计、开发和测试T1 （3D FLASH）和T2 （T2 SPACE）对比度以及扩散张量成像（DTI）的运动不敏感序列。具体目标3：在20名5岁以下儿童中对这种运动不敏感加速方案进行真实世界测试。将使用适合年龄的行为方法来帮助儿童进行15分钟的扫描。我们期望线圈技术和运动矫正的这些进步将显著缩短成像时间，使无需镇静或麻醉的儿童磁共振成像更加可行，从而使我们最年轻和最脆弱的患者更容易获得磁共振成像。公共卫生相关性：核磁共振成像是评估大脑异常最安全、最敏感的方式，但在幼儿中，由于需要镇静或麻醉，风险增加，可用性有限，费用高。减少儿童专用多通道头部线圈的扫描时间，并设计运动不敏感脉冲序列，将使完成评估在15分钟内，而不是目前的45分钟。这些进步与适合年龄的行为技术相结合，很有可能在年轻和脆弱的人群中进行无镇静扫描。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Abstract Pediatric brain disorders such as trauma, tumors, epilepsy, autism and other developmental disorders are common in children less than 5 years. These first 5 years of life are also key in the developing brain as neuronal specification and myelination occurs. During this time of rapid growth and development the brain is highly vulnerable to injury, exposures or errors in genetic expression. As with adults, MR imaging is the modality of choice for evaluating the pediatric brain yet the pediatric population is currently underserved by commercial vendors. None of the major vendors provide state-of-the-art pediatric sized head coils and third party vendors that do, use outdated technology. Due to the long scan times and likelihood of motion artifacts, MR requires sedation or anesthesia. In addition sedation and anesthesia come with risks of their own, particularly in the very young, reduces the availability of MR and increases the cost of MR scanning. As a result CT is often chosen for even though it is particularly insensitive to parenchymal abnormalities in the immature brain and comes with increased risk of radiation induced cognitive deficits. The overall goal of this project is to create age specific 32 channel head coils and accelerated motion insensitive pulse sequences which allow high quality sedation free scanning in 15 minutes for children less than 5 years of age. The specific aims of this project are: Specific Aim 1: Design, develop and test 32 channel head coils for term infants, 6 month olds, 1 year olds and 2 - 4 year olds. Specific Aim 2: Design, develop and test motion insensitive sequences for T1 (3D FLASH) and T2 (T2 SPACE) contrast as well as Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). Specific Aim 3: Perform a real world test of this motion insensitive accelerated protocol in 20 children less than 5 years of age. Age appropriate behavioral methods will be used to help the children undergo the 15 minute scan. We expect that these advances in coil technology and motion correction will significantly reduce imaging time and make pediatric MR imaging without sedation or anesthesia more feasible and there make MR imaging more available to our youngest and most vulnerable patients. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: MR imaging is the safest and most sensitive modality for assessing brain abnormalities yet in young children because of the need for sedation or anesthesia, the risk is increased, the availability is limited and the expense is high. Decreasing scan times with pediatric specific multichannel head coils and designing motion insensitive pulse sequences would allow complete evaluation in 15 minutes instead of the current 45 minutes. These advances combined with age appropriate behavioral techniques has a high probability of making sedation free scanning possible in this young and vulnerable population.