Abstract #0421

Research use of an ultra-low-field MRI to measure child neurodevelopment at 3 and 12 months of age in Southern Malawi, Sub-Saharan Africa

Maclean Vokhiwa^1,2, Able Khosa¹, Blessings Nthulula¹, Karen Chetcuti³, Louise Randall⁴, Steven Greenstein⁵, Marc Seal⁵, Richard Beare⁵, Niall Bourke⁶, Francesco Padormo⁷, John Rogers⁷, Pip Torelli⁷, Sean Deoni⁸, Sant-Rayn Pasricha⁴, and Kamija S. Phiri^1,2

¹Neuroscience, Training & Research Unit of Excellence (TRUE), Blantyre, Malawi, ²Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Blantyre, Malawi, ³Radiology, Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), Blantyre, Malawi, ⁴Pasricha Lab, Population Health and Immunity, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), Voctoria, Australia, ⁵Developmental Imaging, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The Royal Children's Hospital, Voctoria, Australia, ⁶Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁷Hyperfine.io, London, United Kingdom, ⁸5. Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Discovery & Tools, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, United States

Synopsis

Keywords: Neuro, Low-Field MRI, Infant Brain Development; Brain MRI; Ultra-Low-Field MRI

Motivation: In Sub-Saharan Africa, limited MRI access and expertise can be addressed through international collaborations to enhance quality neuroimaging data collection in brain research.

Goal(s): We describe research usability and reliability of an ultra-low-field (64mT) MRI data collection from Zomba, Malawi.

Approach: We scanned ~481 children at 3 and 12 months of age, using hyperfine Swoop ULF-MRI (64T) for neuroimaging data to augment traditional randomized control trial outcome measures. We summarize procedures, participant responsiveness, and neuroimaging quality.

Results: Full-scan success was in over 88% of participants within 55 weeks, with 87.4 to 99.6% completing all 5 scanning sequences. Full-brain quality scans were in >79%.

Impact: International collaborations, such as UNITY project, utilizing ultra-low-field MRI improves research capacity and enables reliable measurement of brain development in Sub-Saharan Africa. This significantly promotes advancement of developmental neuroscience in the region.

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