Description
The purpose of this study is to look at the Sodium Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) findings in children with brain tumors and healthy children. An MRI is a machine which takes pictures of the brain. The type of MRI image in this study is a new type that is not yet FDA approved and the study is looking to see if the new type of MRI image is useful in looking at sodium in the brain and brain tumors. Sodium MRI (also known as 23Na-MRI) is a useful non-invasive imaging technique to assess biochemical and physiologic changes in tissues, e.g. integrity of cells and tissue viability. Sodium MRI has been beneficial in the evaluation of several neurological disorders including acute ischemic strokes, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, migraines, and multiple tumor types, including tumors outside of the central nervous system.
What to expect
The study involves four visits and individuals aged 6-18 years of age that do or do not have a brain tumor will be enrolled.(1) A first visit is for screening, and consent authorization, where we will review your medical records, perform a physical examination (vital signs), and a urine pregnancy testing (for females). This will last approximately 20 minutes. A baseline MRI exam will be performed (25 subjects in the study). (2) A second and third visit are for follow up MRIs if needed in the study (5 subjects in the study). Note that before each MRI scan, a screening procedure will be performed. The total MRI scan time for each visit will approximately 60 minutes. The five subjects with additional visits will take place over the course of a year.
