Diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) based on multi-shell diffusion MRI may offer extra information on WM microstructural complexity changes during infant development compared to conventional DTI. After acquiring DKI and DTI from 18 normal infants aged 0-1 year, we measured the mean kurtosis (MK) and fractional anisotropy (FA) of all major WM tracts by combining WM skeletonization process and WM tract labels. Significant age-related increases in both MK and FA were found in all tracts. Distinctive developmental trajectories of WM tracts with MK measurements compared to those with FA measurements were revealed, indicating heterogeneous increases of microstructural complexity among WM tracts.
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