Nicolas Kunz1, Hui Zhang2,
Kieran R. O'brien3, Yaniv Assaf4, Daniel Alexander2,
Franois Lazeyras5,
1Division of Development
& Growth, Fepartment of Pediatrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva,
Switzerland; 2Computer Science, University College London, United
Kingdom; 3Advanced Clinical Imaging Technology, CIBM-Siemens
Development group, University of Lausanne, University of Geneva & EPFL; 4Tel
Aviv University, Neurobiology department; 5Department of
Radiology-CIBM, Geneva University Hospitals; 6Department of
Neurology, Childrens Hospital
DTI provides a unique insight of the cellular microstructure. However, the changes reported during brain development in diffusion tensor derived parameters (e.g. FA, MD) cannot be directly transposed on physical cellular process such as the myelination stage or axonal density. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a multi-shell q-ball acquisition in human newborns of 3 months old at 3T, and to validate the CHARMED reconstruction model in the non-myelinated brain. This study demonstrate that water experienced restricted diffusion in the CC and Cst at a b-value > 2000 s/mm2 in human newborn brain.