A Low-Field MRI Dataset For Spatiotemporal Analysis of Developing Brain

Recently, imaging investigation of brain development has increasingly captured the attention of researchers and clinicians in an attempt to understand the link between the brain and behavioral changes. Although high-field MR imaging of infants is feasible, the necessary customizations have limited its accessibility, affordability, and reproducibility. Low-field MR, as an emerging solution for scrutinizing developing brain, has exhibited its unique advantages in safety, portability, and cost-effectiveness. The presented low-field infant structural MR data aims to manifest the feasibility of using low-field MR image to exam brain structural changes during early life in infants. The dataset comprises 100 T2 weighed MR images from infants with in-plane resolution of similar to 0.85 mm and similar to 6 mm slice thickness. To demonstrate the potential utility, we conducted atlas-based whole brain segmentations and volumetric quantifications to analyze brain development features in first 10 week in postnatal life. This dataset addresses the scarcity of a large, extended-span infant brain dataset that restricts the further tracking of infant brain development trajectories and the development of routine low-field MR imaging pipelines.