Functional imaging of the developing brain with wearable high-density diffuse optical tomography: A new benchmark for infant neuroimaging outside the scanner environment

•First demonstration of a wearable, HD-DOT technology, in the infant population.•Advances in system and head-gear design, ergonomics, registration approaches.•Technology is very well tolerated by infant participants.•Production of 3D images of brain function outside the scanner environment.•HD-DOT y...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Fla.), 2021-01, Vol.225, p.117490-117490, Article 117490
Main Authors: Frijia, Elisabetta Maria, Billing, Addison, Lloyd-Fox, Sarah, Vidal Rosas, Ernesto, Collins-Jones, Liam, Crespo-Llado, Maria Magdalena, Amadó, Marta Perapoch, Austin, Topun, Edwards, Andrea, Dunne, Luke, Smith, Greg, Nixon-Hill, Reuben, Powell, Samuel, Everdell, Nicholas L., Cooper, Robert J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Babies
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain - growth & development
Brain research
Cognitive ability
Female
Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
Functional Neuroimaging
Hemodynamics
Hemoglobin
High-Density Diffuse Optical Tomography
Humans
I.R. radiation
Imaging, Three-Dimensional - instrumentation
Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods
Infant
Infant Cognitive Development
Infant Neuroimaging
Infrared spectroscopy
Investigations
Localization
Male
Medical imaging
Nervous system
Neuroimaging
Optical Neuroimaging
Sensors
Signal-To-Noise Ratio
Spatial discrimination
Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
Tomography
Tomography, Optical - instrumentation
Tomography, Optical - methods
Wearable computers
Wearable Electronic Devices
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Summary:•First demonstration of a wearable, HD-DOT technology, in the infant population.•Advances in system and head-gear design, ergonomics, registration approaches.•Technology is very well tolerated by infant participants.•Production of 3D images of brain function outside the scanner environment.•HD-DOT yields dramatic improvements in spatial specificity and SNR relative to fNIRS. Studies of cortical function in the awake infant are extremely challenging to undertake with traditional neuroimaging approaches. Partly in response to this challenge, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has become increasingly common in developmental neuroscience, but has significant limitations including resolution, spatial specificity and ergonomics. In adults, high-density arrays of near-infrared sources and detectors have recently been shown to yield dramatic improvements in spatial resolution and specificity when compared to typical fNIRS approaches. However, most existing fNIRS devices only permit the acquisition of ~20–100 sparsely distributed fNIRS channels, and increasing the number of optodes presents significant mechanical challenges, particularly for infant applications. A new generation of wearable, modular, high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) technologies has recently emerged that overcomes many of the limitations of traditional, fibre-based and low-density fNIRS measurements. Driven by the development of this new technology, we have undertaken the first study of the infant brain using wearable HD-DOT. Using a well-established social stimulus paradigm, and combining this new imaging technology with advances in cap design and spatial registration, we show that it is now possible to obtain high-quality, functional images of the infant brain with minimal constraints on either the environment or on the infant participants. Our results are consistent with prior low-density fNIRS measures based on similar paradigms, but demonstrate superior spatial localization, improved depth specificity, higher SNR and a dramatic improvement in the consistency of the responses across participants. Our data retention rates also demonstrate that this new generation of wearable technology is well tolerated by the infant population.
ISSN:1053-8119
1095-9572
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117490