Malformations of cortical development: diagnostic accuracy of fetal MR imaging.

Purpose: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of fetal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for malformations of cortical development by using postnatal MR imaging as reference standard.

Materials And Methods: Eighty-one patients who had undergone fetal and postnatal MR imaging of the brain were identified in this institutional review board-approved, HIPAA-compliant study. Images were retrospectively reviewed in consensus by two pediatric neuroradiologists who were blinded to clinical information.

Intracranial magnetic resonance imaging findings in the surviving fetus after spontaneous monochorionic cotwin demise.

Objective: This study was undertaken to evaluate intracranial magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities in the surviving fetus after a cotwin demise.

Study Design: This is a retrospective observational study evaluating the intracranial findings of surviving twins after demise of a monochorionic cotwin. A total of 47 cases of cotwin demise were identified from an magnetic resonance imaging database consisting of all fetal magnetic resonance imagings performed at the University of California San Francisco.

White-matter injury is associated with impaired gaze in premature infants.

Periventricular leukomalacia is a risk factor for visual impairment in children born prematurely. The impact of diffuse white-matter injury, as detected on magnetic resonance imaging, on early visual function is unknown. We developed two 5-point visual-gaze scores to analyze the association between this clinical assessment and white-matter injury in 93 premature neonates <34 weeks of gestational age at birth.

Neonatal seizures: multicenter variability in current treatment practices.

Standardized approaches to the treatment of neonatal seizures remain undeveloped. We assessed the type and number of anticonvulsants selected, blood levels attained, and postdischarge anticonvulsant treatment of neonatal seizures among five neonatal intensive care units in the United States between 2000-2003. Almost all of the 480 neonates (94%) with seizures were treated, initially with phenobarbital (82%), lorazepam (9%), phenytoin (2%), other anticonvulsants (1%), or a combination of the first two drugs (6%).

Neonatal encephalopathy: association of cytokines with MR spectroscopy and outcome.

In term neonatal encephalopathy, little is known about the relationship between early inflammatory markers, neonatal brain injury, and long-term neurodevelopmental outcome. Our goal was to determine whether neonatal serum cytokine levels are associated with cerebral metabolism assessed by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities, and with neurodevelopmental outcome at 30 mo of age. Levels of seven cytokines [IL-1 beta, IL-6, IL-8, IL-9, IL-12, IL-13, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha] were measured in dried neonatal blood by immunoaffinity chromatography in a prospective cohort of 62 term newborns at risk of neonatal encephalopathy.