Table 3.

MR Imaging parameters that have been correlated with outcome in the preterm

No. of Infants	Inclusion Criteria in GA weeks	Gestational age in weeks	Timing of Imaging in weeks	Finding/Outcome	Study
119	30	27 GA (23–29)	Serial MRI scans from birth to term.	Diffuse white matter abnormalities and post-hemorrhagic ventricular dilation are common at term and seem to correlate with reduced developmental quotients median birth weight of 880 g (370–1606 g).	Dyet et al, [47]
38	34	31	40 (38–44)	Higher diffusion coefficient values in the white matter apparent at term-equivalent age in preterm infants without overt lesions are associated with poorer developmental performance in later childhood.	Krishnan ML [69]
12	Infants with grade 4.	25 – 36	40	Asymmetric involvement of the PLIC is an early predictor of future hemiplegia	De Vries et al [80]
61	Preterm NICU admission.	29.6–32.6	Early, 32, and late MRI, 40.	Late MRI was useful for assessment of the PLIC, as this finding helped to predict hemiplegia in those with unilateral parenchymal injury and to a lesser degree diplegia or quadriplegia in those with bilateral parenchymal injury.	Roelants-van Rijn et al [81]
137	33 week and birthweight < 1800 g	Not specified	34–42	Significant reduction of fractional anisotropy in the posterior limb of the internal capsule in neurologically abnormal infants (including those with cerebral palsy)	Arzoumanian et al [82]
24	32 weeks and >1500g	28.4	37	Strong negative correlation between FA and GMFCS among preterm infants with abnornal FA in the PLIC and no correlation among perterm infants with normal FA.	Rose Et al [83]
78	Preterm infants with VLBW	27.6	Term- equivalent age	Children with abnormal neurodevelopment had more abnormalities on MRI and reduced FA in the splenium of the CC and right PLIC.	Rose et al 78]
10	Healthy term and stable preterm infants	Not specified	35.4 ± 1.1	WM volumes in the sensorimotor and midtemporal regions correlated strongly with measures of neurodevelopmental outcome.	Peterson BS et al [73]
119	<32 weeks with birth weight <1500 g	27.7 ± 2.2 (23–32)	40.2 ± 0.3	Infants with significantly reduced cortical GM and deep nuclear GM volumes and increased CSF volume volumes exhibited moderate to severe neurodevelopmental disability at 1 year of age	Inder et al [70]
83	32 weeks gestation	27.6 ± 2.1	40.3 ± 1.2 (37.4 – 42.9)	Cerebellar volume showed a weak correlation with cognitive and motor development, although this was principally mediated by WM injury.	Shah et al [104]

Abbr: MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; PLIC, posterior limb of the internal capsule; NICU, neonatal intensive care unit; FA, fractional anisotropy; GMFCS, gross motor function classification system; CC, corpus callosum; WH, white matter; GM, gray matter; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid.