MRI in the Diagnostic Work up of Children with Global Developmental Delay

Abstract

lobal developmental delay is one of the most common reasons for referral to a pediatric neurologist. However, diagnosis of developmental delay is not done after birth immediately, but done during infancy or early childhood. Several times, the diagnosis is made once the child enters the school. Based on previous studies, brain MRI has been one of the major investigations for these patients. A complete and thorough study will provide important information about the patient, the rate and type of brain abnormalities. MRI evaluation of brain contributes to the process of diagnosis of the different etiologies of developmental delay. As developmental delay has a wide spectrum of etiology ranging from normal to abnormal, the brain MRI helps the clinician in proper diagnosis and identification of these diseases and their prognosis, preventing their recurrence, aid in parent counseling and finally leading to appropriate treatment. The chance of increasing the yield of diagnosis increases not only with MRI brain, but with further imaging advances like, MR Spectroscopy.