Neonatal Brain Imaging Protocol

Using the standard protocol for neonatal brain imaging previously described by our institution,^{18 (link)} a 1.5 T clinical scanner (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) was used to perform all brain MRI studies. Sequences included isotropic three dimensional (3D)-T1-weighted and axial T2-weighted images, a single-shot spin echo, echo planar axial DTI sequence with diffusion gradients along 20 non-collinear directions (effective high b-value of 800 s/mm²) and susceptibility weighted imaging. An additional measurement without diffusion weighting (b=0 s/mm²) was performed. The following parameters were used for DTI acquisition: repetition time (TR) 8500 ms, echo time (TE) 86 ms, slice thickness 2.0 mm, field-of-view (FOV) 240 × 240 mm, and matrix size 192×192. Parallel imaging iPAT=2 with auto-calibrating partial parallel acquisition reconstruction was used. The acquisition was repeated twice to optimize signal-to-noise ratio. In rare circumstances, rectal midazolam was needed due to agitation for image acquisition. Otherwise all studies were performed in natural sleep.