Development of Pediatric Spinal Cord Templates by Age Groups for Enhanced Quantitative MRI Analysis

Motivation: Current pediatric spinal cord templates are lacking, limiting quantitative MRI analysis to study developmental changes in pediatric populations. Goal(s): This study aims to create age-grouped spinal cord templates to enhance the precision of pediatric spinal cord MRI analysis. Approach: MRI data from 115 participants were pre-processed and normalized. Template generation was performed iteratively for three age groups : 10-12, 13-15, and 16-17. Morphometric measures were extracted for age-based analysis. Results: T1w and T2w templates were created for each age group. Morphometric analysis revealed age-related changes, supporting the need for age-specific templates to more accurately capture the developing aspects of the pediatric spinal cord. Impact: The development of age-grouped pediatric spinal cord templates may enhance the precision of quantitative MRI analysis in the developing spinal cord, allowing to capture age-related changes and improving our understanding of spinal cord development and pathology in pediatric populations.