Table 3.
MRI studies of structural brain networks in atypical development
| Study | Condition/subjects | Connectivity measure | Parcellation | Network changes with condition/outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batalle et al41 | IUGR/42 subjects + 41 controls, scanned at 12 ± 2 months | DTI | 93 nodes, AAL adapted to1 year-old population42 | Decreased global and local weighted efficiency; a pattern of altered regional graph theory features; correlation of connectivity measures with BSID-III at 2 years |
| Tymofiyeva et al43 | HIE/17 subjects, scanned at 6 months | DTI | 40 nodes, template-free (1) equal-area sphere partitioning; (2) “gridded” parcellation into regions of equal spatial extent | A trend of declining brain network integration and segregation with increasing neuromotor deficit scores |
| Pandit et al44 | Pre-mature birth/49 subjects, scanned at 11–31 months | DTI, probabilistic tracking | 83 nodes, manual segmentation of adult brains45 | Lower connection strength in tracts involving all cortical lobes and several subcortical structures with increasing pre-maturity at birth |
| Pannek et al46 | Pre-mature birth/9 term neonates, 18 pre-term-born infants | DTI, probabilistic tracking | 48 nodes, John Hopkins University neonate space47 | Affected components of the network identified using NBS48 mainly involved left frontal and temporal cortical areas |
| Shi et al49 | Autism/49 subjects + 51 controls, scanned at 6–15 years | Cortical thickness correlations | 68 nodes, Freesurfer, Desikan–Killiany cortical atlas50 | Reduced network modularity; a larger number of intermodule connections; increased intra- and inter-module connectivity in middle frontal gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus and cingulate |
| Ziv et al51 | HIE/24 subjects, scanned at 6 months | DTI | 100 nodes, template-free equal-area sphere partitioning | Separating normal and abnormal outcome using a machine learning approach |
AAL, anatomical automatic labelling atlas; BSID-III, Bayley scale for infancy and toddler development, 3rd ed.; DTI, diffusion tensor imaging; HIE, hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy; IUGR, intrauterine growth restriction; NBS, network-based statistics.