Evaluation of Normal Age-Related Changes in Anisotropy During Infancy and Childhood as Shown by Diffusion Tensor Imaging

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Abstract
OBJECTIVE. The first purpose of this study was to compare the degree of anisotropy in compact white matter and noncompact white matter in each of three pediatric age groups using diffusion tensor imaging. We hypothesized that anisotropy would be higher in compact white matter than in noncompact white matter in each age group. The second purpose of our study was to compare the increase in anisotropy over time in compact versus noncompact white matter during early childhood. We hypothesized that increases in anisotropy would be higher in noncompact white matter.MATERIALS AND METHODS. We retrospectively analyzed anisotropy maps derived from diffusion tensor imaging studies performed in 66 pediatric patients (age range, 4 days—71 months; mean age, 18.6 months) who underwent clinical MR imaging and were found to have no abnormalities on conventional MR images. Anisotropy was measured in three compact white matter structures (corpus callosum, internal capsule, cerebral peduncle) and two regions of noncompact wh...