This thesis establishes normal age-related changes in the magnetic resonance (MR) T1 and T2 relaxation time constants using data collected as part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) MRI Study of Normal Brain Development. This ongoing multi-centre study of normal brain and behaviour development provides both longitudinal and cross-sectional data and has enabled us to investigate the relaxation time constant evolution in several brain regions for children within the range of 0-4.5 years. Due to the multi-centre nature of the study and the extended period of data collection, periodically scanned inanimate and human phantoms were used to assess intra and inter-site variability. The main finding of this thesis is the parametrization of the mono-exponential behaviour of both the T1 and T2 relaxation time constants from birth until 4.5 years of age. This behaviour is believed to reflect the rapid changes in water content as well as myelination processes observable during neonatal brain development. These results, comprising over 200 subject scans, represents a subset of a publicly available normative pediatric MRI database, providing a basis for comparison for studies assessing normal brain development and deviation due to various neurological disorders.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.99519 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Leppert, Ilana R. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Engineering (Department Biomedical Engineering) |
| Rights | © Ilana R. Leppert, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002541542, proquestno: AAIMR28603, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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