Fig. 2.

Microstructural abnormalities determined by template based VBM (A) and TBSS (B). Compared to the controls, the preterm children with PVL were found to have significantly reduced fractional anisotropy (FA) in large sectors of the central and posterior white matter, bilaterally, extending into the midbrain and brainstem. This included key regions within the visual system (i.e., posterior temporal–occipital white matter in region of the optic radiations, the inferior frontal–occipital fasciculus (IFOF), inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and the splenium of the corpus callosum), the limbic system (i.e., cingulum, fimbria, fornix) and the motor system (i.e., corona radiata, body of the corpus callosum, posterior limb of the internal capsule, crus pedunculi, middle cerebellar peduncles, and inferior cerebellar peduncles). Significant reductions in FA were also seen in frontal regions (either the deep white matter of the frontal lobe or in the region of the crossing of those fibers — the genu of the corpus callosum). When examining the regions of that contained longitudinal visual association fibers tract, including the ILF, IFOF and the SLF, there was no clear regional FA abnormality noted that was comparable to the along tract and spatial distribution analysis.