Neurodevelopmental outcome following hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy and therapeutic hypothermia is related to right ventricular performance at 24-hour postnatal age.

Objective: Our aim was to determine whether right ventricular (RV) dysfunction at 24-hour postnatal age predicts adverse developmental outcome among patients with hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) undergoing therapeutic hypothermia (TH).

Design: Neonates≥35 weeks with HIE/TH were enrolled in a physiological study in the neonatal period (n=46) and either died or underwent neurodevelopmental follow-up at 18 months (n=43). The primary outcome was a composite of death, diagnosis of cerebral palsy or any component of the Bayley Scores of Infant Development III<70.

Resilience and Vulnerability: Neurodevelopment of Very Preterm Children at Four Years of Age.

Children born very preterm (VPT) are at high-risk for altered brain development and impaired neurodevelopmental outcomes but are not well-studied before school-age. We investigated 64 four-year-olds: 37 VPT children [<32 weeks gestational age [GA]; 22 males; mean GA: 28.8 weeks ± 1.

Longitudinal Study of White Matter Development and Outcomes in Children Born Very Preterm.

Identifying trajectories of early white matter development is important for understanding atypical brain development and impaired functional outcomes in children born very preterm (<32 weeks gestational age [GA]). In this study, 161 diffusion images were acquired in children born very preterm (median GA: 29 weeks) shortly following birth (75), term-equivalent (39), 2 years (18), and 4 years of age (29). Diffusion tensors were computed to obtain measures of fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), axial diffusivity (AD), and radial diffusivity (RD), which were aligned and averaged.

Associations of Perinatal Clinical and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Measures with Developmental Outcomes in Children Born Very Preterm.

Objective: To identify perinatal risk factors associated with long-term neurocognitive and behavioral impairments in children born very preterm using a multivariate, partial least squares approach.

Study Design: Twenty-seven perinatal clinical and magnetic resonance imaging measures were collected at birth and during the neonatal intensive care stay for 105 neonates born very preterm (≤ 32 weeks gestational age). One-half of the children returned for neuropsychological assessments at 2 and 4 years of age.

Longitudinal cerebellar growth following very preterm birth.

Purpose: To measure cerebellar growth in a longitudinal cohort of very preterm infants to identify early predictors of subsequent brain growth. Although the cerebellum grows rapidly during late gestation, the rate and variability of growth following premature birth, and the effects of associated injury, are largely unknown.

Materials And Methods: In all, 105 very-preterm born infants (24-32 weeks GA) were imaged using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at birth, term-equivalent, 2, and 4 years of age.

Limitations of routine neuroimaging in predicting outcomes of preterm infants.

Introduction: Preterm births are increasing in number and while the rates of cerebral palsy have declined, there are increasing numbers of infants who survive with handicaps. In some studies, up to 50 % of children will have morbidity when followed up to school age.

Methods: A review of current literature was conducted to determine the validity of routine cranial ultrasound scans (CUS) to predict neurodevelopmental outcomes, including motor and cognitive deficits.

Visual functional magnetic resonance imaging of preterm infants.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of undertaking visual functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in very preterm children.

Method: Forty-seven infants born at less than 32 weeks gestational age (25 males, 22 females; mean (SD) age at birth 28.8 wks [1.

Deep gray matter maturation in very preterm neonates: regional variations and pathology-related age-dependent changes in magnetization transfer ratio.

Purpose: To elucidate the relationship between gestational age, pathologic findings, and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging measures of tissue maturation-myelination in deep gray matter areas in very preterm neonates imaged at birth.

Materials And Methods: The study was approved by the research ethics board. Written informed consent was given by the infants' parents.

Optimized T1- and T2-weighted volumetric brain imaging as a diagnostic tool in very preterm neonates.

Background: T1- and T2-W MR sequences used for obtaining diagnostic information and morphometric measurements in the neonatal brain are frequently acquired using different imaging protocols. Optimizing one protocol for obtaining both kinds of information is valuable.

Objective: To determine whether high-resolution T1- and T2-W volumetric sequences optimized for preterm brain imaging could provide both diagnostic and morphometric value.

The importance of head growth patterns in predicting the cognitive abilities and literacy skills of small-for-gestational-age children.

This study evaluated the effects of head growth compromise beginning in utero and continuing, in some cases, through the first 9 months of life on the cognitive and literacy skills of school-age small-for-gestational-age (SGA) children. Seventy-one SGA children, aged 7 to 9 years (gestational ages, 24-41 weeks) and 16 full-term appropriate-for-gestational-age control children of comparable socioeconomic backgrounds and age at testing completed tests assessing intelligence, receptive language, working memory, problem solving, visual-motor integration, phonological awareness, reading, and spelling. SGA children were subdivided into head-growth pattern groups based on their head circumference at birth and at 9 months postterm.