Poster No:
1262
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Leslie Gaines1, Bosi Chen1, Alexis McKay1, Seyeon Yim1, Cassandra Hendrix2, Natalie Brito3, Moriah Thomason4
Institutions:
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone, New York, NY, 2NYU Langone, New York, NY, 3New York University, New York, NY, 4NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY
First Author:
Leslie Gaines
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone
New York, NY
Co-Author(s):
Bosi Chen, PhD
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone
New York, NY
Alexis McKay
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone
New York, NY
Seyeon Yim
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Langone
New York, NY
Introduction:
Infant and toddler MRI provides a unique opportunity to study rapid changes in both brain anatomy and functional organization in the first years of life1,2. However, scanning infants and toddlers presents multiple practical challenges that often result in limited sample sizes and variable data quality3. In particular, longitudinal MRI studies across infancy and toddlerhood require careful considerations for MRI acquisition strategies during different developmental stages. In an effort to promote communication with other infant toddler imaging labs, we are reporting our scanning protocols, success rates across scan sequences, and motion characterization in our longitudinal infant MRI study as well as planned modifications to our protocol in preparation for scanning toddlers at 4 years of age.
Methods:
Participants included infants of women enrolled in the COVID-19 and Perinatal Experiences Study, conducted at NYU Langone Health. 88 infants (47 males) were scanned within the first 5 months after birth (ages 1-5 months; neonatal visit) and 64 infants (36 males) were scanned at around 12 months of age (ages 9-17 months; 1-year-old visit) during natural sleep. All infants were scanned during daytime napping for the neonatal MRI visit but the majority (63%) of infants were scanned during nocturnal sleep for the 1-year-old MRI visit. The MRI acquisition sequence includes T1-weighted and T2-weighted anatomical scans, fMRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and relaxometry imaging on a 3T Siemens Prisma MRI using a 32-channel head coil. We defined a scan being successful if at least one type of usable data is available. Head motion indexed by framewise displacement (FD) was extracted for each fMRI scan.
Results:
The success rate for neonatal MRI scans (84%) is significantly higher than the success rate for 1-year-old MRI scans (56%; X2 (1, N = 88) = 13.03, p <.001). Anatomical T1 were acquired in 83% of the neonatal and 56% of 1-year-old scans. FMRI data were acquired in 74% of the neonatal scans and in 52% of the 1-year-old scans. Full or partial DTI were acquired in 32% of the neonatal scans and in 34% of the 1-year-old scans. While the acquired fMRI data length is comparable between the two timepoints (t (63)= .13, p = .45), head motion is significantly higher during the neonatal scans (t (78.19)= 2.38, p = .02). For the 1-year-old MRI visit, the success rate during nocturnal sleep (66%) is significantly higher than during daytime napping (33%; X2 (1, N = 64)= 6.67, p =.01).
Conclusions:
Consistent with reports by other infant MRI research groups4, sleep MRI success rates are higher among younger infants than older infants. Increased awareness of surroundings at 1 year old may hinder children's ability to fall asleep in unfamiliar environments. Neonates display greater head motion than older infants during MRI, likely related to developmental differences in sleep patterns. For older infants, we attribute greater success rates during nocturnal sleep compared to daytime napping to the higher likelihood of achieving deeper and longer sleep periods at night. Our group is currently preparing for the third longitudinal MRI visit to scan children at age 4 years during nocturnal sleep. These combined findings have informed the development of preparation and scanning protocols for toddlers. A comprehensive preparation protocol, including an age-appropriate social story, a narrated video of the MRI visit, and a 7-day at-home habituation process, is under development and will be included as part of this presentation.
Lifespan Development:
Early life, Adolescence, Aging 1
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Other Methods 2
Keywords:
Development
FUNCTIONAL MRI
MRI
STRUCTURAL MRI
WHITE MATTER IMAGING - DTI, HARDI, DSI, ETC
Other - longitudinal neuroimaging
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
Provide references using author date format
1. Gilmore, J. H., Shi, F., Woolson, S. L., Knickmeyer, R. C., Short, S. J., Lin, W., . . . Shen, D. (2012). Longitudinal development of cortical and subcortical gray matter from birth to 2 years. Cereb Cortex, 22(11), 2478-2485. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhr327
2. Gao, W., Alcauter, S., Elton, A., Hernandez-Castillo, C. R., Smith, J. K., Ramirez, J., & Lin, W. (2015). Functional Network Development During the First Year: Relative Sequence and Socioeconomic Correlations. Cereb Cortex, 25(9), 2919-2928. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhu088
3. Turesky, T. K., Vanderauwera, J., & Gaab, N. (2021). Imaging the rapidly developing brain: Current challenges for MRI studies in the first five years of life. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 47, 100893. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100893
4. Hendrix, C. L., & Thomason, M. E. (2022). A survey of protocols from 54 infant and toddler neuroimaging research labs. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 54, 101060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101060.