Abstract
Background: Diffuse white matter (WM) injury is the commonest MR finding in preterm infants. We aimed to describe the metabolic signature of diffuse WM injury and correlate to neurodevelopmental outcome at 1 year.
Methods: 45 preterm infants (< 32 weeks) underwent single WM voxel point-resolved spectroscopy (fig1A&B) at mean corrected gestational age (CGA) of 40±1.6 weeks. Metabolite ratios were quantified using AMARES algorithm. Bayley III was performed at a corrected age of 1 year. Infants with scores < -1SD in each domain classified as impaired.
Results: Only Naa/Cho correlated to gestation at birth (r=0.39 p< 0.05). 1 year outcome data was available for 42/45. Mean cognitive (96±14) and motor (87±15) composite scores were within the normative population range. Motor outcomes significantly correlated with both Naa/Cho and Cho/Cr ratios before and after correction for gestational age (table 1). After excluding babies with brain abnormalities, there was a significant increase in Cho/Cr in the motor impaired group (p< 0.05) (fig1C).
Conclusions: Localised white matter proton MRS Cho/Cr at term corrected age may provide a useful biomarker of motor outcome in preterm infants.
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Kendall, G., Price, D., Bainbridge, A. et al. Impaired Neurodevelopmental Outcome Associated with Increased White Matter CHO/CR in Preterm Infants. Pediatr Res 70 (Suppl 5), 180 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2011.405
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2011.405