Research Team Launches First of its kind Study That Could Impact Clinical Care for Opioid exposed Infants at Risk for Developmental Delays

CLEVELAND, Ohio -Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF), first described in the journal Nature in 2013 by engineers at the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine and University Hospitals, represents a revolution in imaging.

Now, in a new study supported by a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), researchers from CWRU, UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital (UH Rainbow), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), will use MRF images to identify new biomarkers to predict the risk of developmental delays for opioid-exposed babies.

Initially, the main advantage of MRF was its ability to distinguish between tissue types in adult patients, such as primary from secondary brain tumors and the more aggressive glioblastoma multiforme from oligodendrogliomas. However, recent research shows MRF scans could be an efficient method for non-sedated babies and young children, due to the speed and clarity of this next-generation imaging.

The multi-team principal investigators include Dan Ma, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering at CWRU, Deanne Wilson-Costello, MD, neonatologist and director of the High-Risk Follow-up program at UH Rainbow, and Pew-Thian Yap, PhD, professor in the Department of Radiology and director of the Image Analysis Core of the Biomedical Research Imaging Center at UNC.

"What is remarkable about this study design is that it brings experts in neonatology, radiology, and engineering all working together in real-time," Ma said. "It is amazing how much cleaner and faster these images turn out with this technology."

UH Rainbow is the first hospital in the country to use MRF with this patient population. "Baby images are quite difficult to get, from their constant motion to their developing brain the standard MRI cannot produce an ideal picture to analyze," Wilson-Costello said. "We know that opioids damage visual centers of the brain, so this study will help us identify babies with a high risk for developmental delays who may benefit from early intervention."

Neuroimaging of infants and young children is increasingly used to monitor brain development which can ultimately influence long-term health and behavioral outcomes. This same research team is one of four centers participating in the Outcomes of Babies with Opioid Exposure study, a national effort to assess the effects of opioid exposure on infants.

"It is incredibly exciting to be at the forefront of developing AI technologies that will work in tandem with MRF, specifically designed to address the needs of this unique population. By combining the strengths of AI with the advanced imaging capabilities of MRF, we aim to achieve a precise and detailed mapping of brain development, identifying both typical growth patterns and potential anomalies. This integration holds great promise for enhancing early diagnosis, understanding neurodevelopmental processes, and offering more targeted, personalized interventions," Yap said.

This patient population, and other pediatric patients in general, stress significant unmet needs for motion-robust and quantitative-imaging techniques for baby developmental assessment. This project will provide an imaging tool to relate quantitative features in brain structure and development to neurologic functions, opening the opportunity for early targeted interventions to improve patient health outcomes.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the NIH under Award Number R01HD112923. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

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