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Age-related T2 relaxation times at 3 Tesla as a biomarker of infratentorial brain maturation

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine age-related, infratentorial changes in T2 relaxation times during infancy and childhood using routine MRI data at 3 Tesla.

Methods

One hundred patients (0–199 months) without signal abnormalities on conventional MRI were retrospectively selected from our pool of pediatric MRI examinations. T2 maps based on our routinely acquired triple-echo turbo spin-echo (TSE) sequence were created. Based on their clinical symptoms, the children were divided into 43 controls and 57 diseased children with different clinical diseases. T2 relaxation times were measured in 15 infratentorial brain regions (medullary pyramid, ventral and dorsal pons, middle cerebellar peduncle, dentate nucleus, medial and lateral cerebellar hemisphere each on both sides, and in the cerebellar vermis) investigating age-related changes. Secondly, this study examined whether those changes in T2 values differed between healthy and diseased children.

Results

Age significantly reduced T2 relaxation time in all infratentorial brain regions (p < 0.05). With increasing age, the T2 relaxation times decreased continuously, faster in the first 9 months and slower thereafter. Overall, controls did not differ significantly from diseased children (p > 0.05) apart from the dentate nucleus and cerebellar hemispheres in terms of rapid decline (larger in controls) and the right dorsal pons and left pyramid in terms of slow decline (larger in diseased children). In both groups, the later slow decline was almost negligible.

Conclusions

Using T2 maps, it was possible to determine age-related T2 relaxation times in the different infratentorial brain regions in this preliminary study. Between neurologically healthy controls and diseased children, no significant differences in T2 relaxation times could be found overall in the studied regions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany

    Eva Bültmann, Friederike Göhner & Heinrich Lanfermann

  2. Institute for Biostatistics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

    Loukia M. Spineli

  3. Department of Pediatric Kidney, Liver, and Metabolic Diseases, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

    Hans Hartmann

Authors
  1. Eva Bültmann
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  2. Loukia M. Spineli
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  3. Friederike Göhner
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  4. Hans Hartmann
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  5. Heinrich Lanfermann
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Correspondence to Eva Bültmann.

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All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in relation to this article.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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For this type of study, formal consent is not required.

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No funding was received.

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Bültmann, E., Spineli, L.M., Göhner, F. et al. Age-related T2 relaxation times at 3 Tesla as a biomarker of infratentorial brain maturation. Childs Nerv Syst 34, 117–127 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-017-3561-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-017-3561-4

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