Abstract #1256

Could T1 and T2 Weighted Volumetric Imaging Be Used for Clinical Purposes in the Very Preterm Brain?

Revital Nossin-Manor¹, Manohar Shroff¹, Hilary Whyte², Joo Paulo Soares-Fernandes^1,3, Bejoy Thomas¹, Drew Morris¹, Margot Jane Taylor¹, John G. Sled^4,5

¹Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; ²Neonatology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; ³Neuroradiology, Hospital de S. Marcos, Braga, Portugal; ⁴Physiology Experimental Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; ⁵Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

T1 and T2 weighted (T1w and T2w) sequences are very important MRI modalities routinely used for identifying pathologies and monitoring development in the neonatal brain. T1w and T2w sequences used for diagnostic and morphometric studies, however, are frequently acquired using different imaging protocols and experimental settings. While low through-plane resolution conventional spin-echo T1w and T2w sequences are used to identify pathologies, high resolution volumetric imaging is used for research. We compared these two neuroimaging approaches in very preterm neonates and suggest that rapid high resolution T1w and T2w sequences can provide both diagnostic and morphometic value.