Neuroradiology Division

Imaging Anatomy in Neuroradiology

Normal myelination pattern of the pediatric brain

Myelination causes changes in the signal intensity of the brain. Myelination starts during the 5th fetal month with myelination of the cranial nerves and continues throughout life. Myelination progress is from caudal to cephalad and from dorsal to ventral. Thus, the occipital lobes of the cerebral hemispheres myelinate early while the frontal lobes myelinate late. White matter changes are seen best on T1-weighted images during the first six to eight months of life and T2-weighted images are best to evaluate myelination between six and eighteen months of life. Therefore, the following examples include both T1 and T2-weighted images.

These images were originally published in Ketonen LM, Hiwatashi A, Sidhu R, Westesson P-L. Pediatric Brain and Spine: An Atlas of MRI and Spectroscopy. Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, 2005, pgs 4-10.

Myelination Patterns on MRI

Modified from Barkovich AJ. Pediatric Neuroimaging, 3rd ed.
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2000, pg. 38.