3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in newborns

While it has been hypothesized that brain development is abnormal in schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders, there have been few attempts to study very early brain development in children. Twenty unsedated healthy newborns underwent 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The left ventricle was significantly larger than the right; females had significantly larger ventricles than males. Fractional anisotropy (FA) increased significantly with gestational age in the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum. It is feasible to study brain development in unsedated newborns using 3 T MRI.