
For decades, growth charts have been used by paediatricians as reference tools. The charts allow health professionals to plot and measure a child’s height and weight from birth to young adulthood. The percentile scores they provide, especially across multiple visits, help doctors screen for conditions such as obesity or inadequate growth, which fall at the extremes of these scores.
Meanwhile, it is possible to measure brain development with imaging technologies such as ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computerised tomography (CT). The development of these technologies has led to a wealth of research on how the brain changes, and each year, millions of clinical brain scans are performed worldwide. Despite this progress, there are few measures that are used to aid in monitoring brain development. Why? [Read more…] about Collaborative neuroimaging initiative BrainChart helps chart how brains change across the lifespan