Diffusion-tensor magnetic resonance imaging in pediatrics

Normal cognitive development in children follows a temporal sequence, which is correlated with the structural maturation of underlying functional networks. Structural MR imaging studies have described spatiotemporal progression of white matter myelination qualitatively in vivo, while diffusion tensor imaging and tractography have added quantification of the fiber bundles maturation. In the article we describe the use of diffusiontensor magnetic resonance imaging in pediatrics. We illustrate the method by presenting our patients. Diffusion tractography is a unique tool to visualize and segment the white matter pathways and to evaluate the segmented tract quantitatively. The importance of this tool is expected to become more significant in clinical and neuroscience fields in the future.