Pediatric MR imaging: How, when, and why

While the utility of MR imaging is becoming obvious in many conditions affecting adults, its role in imaging children is just beginning to be explored. There are special problems in imaging sick and uncooperative children, and many diseases in children differ in type or presentation from those in adults. This paper addresses the concerns of both general radiologists and pediatric radiologists involved in MR imaging. The authors' panel of experts discuss, in a series of short lectures, their individual views on the state-of-the-art of MR imaging in infants and children, discussing techniques, limitations, applications, and potentials of the neonatal brain; the applications of MR imaging to the brain in the older child; the state-of-the-art in imaging the pediatric spinal cord; MR imaging as it applies to the pediatric musculoskeletal system; newer applications in pediatric cardiac disease; and the role of MR imaging in the abdomen, particularly in relationship to CT of the body