Abstract #2415

Investigating cortical thickness in children on ultra-low-field and high-field MRI

Catherine J Wedderburn^1,2, Niall J Bourke³, Layla E Bradford^1,2, Jessica E Ringshaw^1,2,3, Thokozile Malaba⁴, Helene Theunissen⁴, Steven C R Williams³, Lauren Davel¹, Jim Read⁵, Helen Reynolds⁶, Nengjie He⁵, Angela Colbers⁷, Duolao Wang⁸, Saye Khoo⁶, Landon Myer⁴, and Kirsten A Donald^1,2

¹Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, ²Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, ³Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Department of Neuroimaging, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁴School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, ⁵Global Health Trials Institute, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom, ⁶Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, ⁷Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands, ⁸Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Synopsis

Keywords: Neuro, Validation, Child brain development; cortical thickness; ultra-low-field MRI; high-field MRI; Low- and Middle-Income Country

Motivation: Ultra-low-field MRI is expanding access to MRI technology worldwide. Cortical thickness is a key brain measure that influences neurodevelopmental outcomes. However, data from paediatric ultra-low-field MRI is lacking.

Goal(s): To examine cortical thickness measures using ultra-low-field and high-field MRI.

Approach: Paired MRI scans were obtained on 40 children aged 3-4 years in the DolPHIN-2 study on ultra-low-field (64mT) and high-field (3T) scanners in Cape Town, South Africa. Cortical thickness metrics were compared across brain regions.

Results: Ultra-low-field MRI cortical thickness measures correlated with high-field (moderate-strong effect), although with consistently lower values. Correspondence was best in larger regions and restricting to high-quality ultra-low-field scans.

Impact: Paediatric cortical thickness measurements may be obtained using ultra-low-field MRI that correspond with high-field MRI and improve with scan quality. Further work is needed to advance ultra-low-field acquisition and processing pipelines to optimise cortical thickness and assess other cortical metrics.

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