Digital characteristics of brainstem morphology and age-related development in young children / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Previous brain studies have mostly focused on adults and fetuses,and the developmental characteristics of young children's brainstems have rarely been studied. OBJECTIVE:To observe the brainstem development characteristics of healthy young children and to explore the age-related differences and their correlation with sex. METHODS:From January 2019 to April 2022,a retrospective study of 3.0T MRI images of 174 children aged 2 to 6 years in the Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University was conducted,and the median sagittal diameter,area and angle of the brainstem(including midbrain,pons and medulla oblongata)were measured. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:There is an age-related increase in the anterior and posterior diameters of the midbrain,pons and medulla oblongata in the 2-5 years old group as well as in the longitudinal diameter and area of the midbrain,pons and medulla oblongata in the 2-6 years old group.Except for the longitudinal diameter of the medulla oblongata,all others show a positive correlation with age(r>0,P<0.05).In the 2-3 years old group and 4-5 years old group,the children are in the rapid growth and development stage,and these two age groups can be used as the key observation indicators for the development of young children.The anterior-posterior diameter,longitudinal diameter,area of the pons and total brainstem area are strongly correlated with age,which can be used as the key observation indicators for the brainstem development in young children.