Relationship between brain volume at term equivalent age and motor development in high risk preterms.

Research Objectives: Brain Magnetic Resonance Images (bMRI) are frequently used to evaluate the developmental outcomes of preterms. However, due to the prematurity of brain structure, it is often difficult to determine later developmental outcomes from bMRI. Therefore, We sought to investigate relationship between brain volume and motor development at corrected ages(CA) of 9 months.

Design: It is a retrospective cohort study of prognosis. Medical records of high-risk preterms with (bMRI) at term equivalent age (TEA) and follow-up Bayley scales at 9 months CA.

Setting: This stud was conducted in a single tertiary hospital.

Participants: High-risk preterms (Birth weight < 1500g, or Gestational age < 32 weeks) with bMRI at TEA and those with follow-up records of Bayley scales were included. Those with congenital anomalies, congenital syndromes, and neuromuscular disorders were excluded.

Interventions: Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures: T1 Images that were manually labeled as whole brain, cerebellum, and ventricle in voxel-wise using MATLAB (Mathworks, Natick, MA, USA) and Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12, https://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/software/spm12/) and gross motor composite score of Bayley scales (BSID III) were collected. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between the outcomes.

Results: It was shown that the ratio of whole brain parenchyme to ventricles was significantly associated with gross motor development at 9 months of CA (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Overall reduction in brain parenchyme volume is associated with future motor development. Brain MRI at TEA could aid in clinician's decision on early detection of developmental delay.

Author(s) Disclosures: No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.