Impaired neuroanatomic development in infants with congenital heart disease.

Objectives: We performed a regional volumetric study of the brain using 3-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging in infants with congenital heart disease to search for variables in anatomic development of the brain that may be associated with functional impairment.

Methods: Forty infants with congenital heart disease-17 infants with single ventricle physiology, 5 with transposition of great arteries, and 18 with ventricular septal defect-were studied prospectively by 3-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain several months after heart surgery.

Results: The global volume of gray matter was significantly reduced in the patients with congenital heart disease compared with normal controls (P < .