title: Pediatric neuroimaging in early childhood and infancy: challenges and practical guidelines.
abstract: Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used increasingly to investigate typical and atypical brain development. However, in contrast to studies in school-aged children and adults, MRI research in young pediatric age groups is less common. Practical and technical challenges occur when imaging infants and children, which presents clinicians and research teams with a unique set of problems. These include procedural difficulties (e.g., participant anxiety or movement restrictions), technical obstacles (e.g., availability of child-appropriate equipment or pediatric MR head coils), and the challenge of choosing the most appropriate analysis methods for pediatric imaging data. Here, we summarize and review pediatric imaging and analysis tools and present neuroimaging protocols for young nonsedated children and infants, including guidelines and procedures that have been successfully implemented in research protocols across several research sites.
authors.affiliation: Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, Division of Developmental Medicine, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Raschle
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zuk
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ortiz-Mantilla
authors.forename: Danielle D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Sliva
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.forename: P Ellen
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: April A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Benasich
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gaab
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods*; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic