Application of diffusion tension imaging in the evaluation of white matter injury and neurodevelopmental prognosis in preterm infants
LIU Ling
CHEN Yang
HUANG Binglong
LIN Shaozhu
AO Dang
CAI Nali
Abstract：Objective To investigate the application of magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)in the assessment of white matter injury(WMI)and neurodevelopmental prognosis of preterm infants.Methods A total of 149 preterm infants were included,all of whom underwent head MRI+DTI examination,and the values of fractional anisotropy(FA)and apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC)were collected.According to the examination results,preterm in-fants were divided into the WMI group(40 cases)and nWMI group(109 cases).For further analysis,the WMI and nWMI groups were classified based on postmenstrual age(PMA)during MRI+DTI examination(33-34 weeks group,35-36 weeks group,and≥37 weeks group).We compared FA and ADC values between WMI and nWMI groups.The Gesell Develop-mental Scale was used to evaluate the development of 39 preterm infants at 6 months of corrected age.Among them,there were 18 cases of adaptive behavioral development retardation,16 cases of individual-social behavior developmental retarda-tion,21 cases of gross motor performance developmental retardation,25 cases of fine motor behavior developmental retarda-tion and 19 cases of speech behavior developmental retardation.Spearman correlation was used to analyze the correlations between the FA and ADC values and the Gesell Developmental Scale.Results The FA values of each ROI in the nWMI group were higher than those of the WMI group at different corrected age(all P<0.05).ADC values of periventricular white matter and genu of corpus callosum in the WMI group at the corrected age of 33-34 weeks were higher than those of the nW-MI group(all P<0.05).At the corrected age of 35-36 weeks,ADC values in genu of corpus callosum and posterior limbs of internal capsule in the WMI group were higher than those in the nWMI group(all P<0.05).At the corrected age of≥37 weeks,ADC values in semiovale center,periventricular white matter,genu of corpus callosum and posterior limbs of internal capsule in the WMI group were higher than those in the nWMI group(all P<0.05).There was a negative correlation between the ADC value of periventricular white matter and Gesell Developmental Scale score in premature infants with gross motor de-velopment delay(r=-0.594,P<0.05).The ADC value of the forelimb of the internal capsule was negatively correlated with the Gesell Developmental Scale score in preterm infants with cognitive behavior developmental retardation(r=-0.524,P<0.05).Conclusions FA values in anterior and posterior limbs of internal capsule and paraventricular white matter can re-veal WMI in preterm infants.ADC value of the periventricular white matter can reflect the development of gross motor.
Keywords：white matter injurydiffusion tensor imagingneurodevelopmentfractional anisotropyapparent dif-fusion coefficientGesell Developmental Scalepremature infants
Publication Date：2024-02-05
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 7-12 )