Role of Structural and Functional Whole-Brain Imaging in the Assessment of Preterm Infants
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47611/jsrhs.v12i4.5789Keywords:
Premature Birth, Neonatalogy, Neuroscience, Health, Radiology, NeuroimagingAbstract
Approximately one in ten infants are born preterm, with each bearing some form of underdevelopment, ranging from behavioral problems to muscular disorders. These developmental issues can lead to increased healthcare costs, permanent injury, and even death. However, with the growth of whole-brain imaging, scientists have found new ways to study premature infants. Leading this overlapping of fields are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional MRI (fMRI), diffusion MRI (dMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and magnetoencephalography (MEG). These technologies give insight into a premature infant’s disposition to lower brain mass, suboptimal learning, and neuropathological lesions. Although every technique has flaws, whether it be in its spatial or temporal resolution or just fundamental limits, each has its own unique benefits. In this paper, we will observe how different techniques are used to study the neurological health of premature infants.
Downloads
References or Bibliography
Goldenberg, R. L., Culhane, J. F., Iams, J. D. & Romero, R. Epidemiology and causes of preterm birth. Lancet Lond. Engl. 371, 75–84 (2008).
Preterm Birth: Causes, Consequences, and Prevention. (National Academies Press (US), 2007). doi:10.17226/11622.
Cnattingius, S. The epidemiology of smoking during pregnancy: smoking prevalence, maternal characteristics, and pregnancy outcomes. Nicotine Tob. Res. Off. J. Soc. Res. Nicotine Tob. 6 Suppl 2, S125-140 (2004).
Larroque, B. Alcohol and the fetus. Int. J. Epidemiol. 21 Suppl 1, S8-16 (1992).
Holzman, C. & Paneth, N. Maternal cocaine use during pregnancy and perinatal outcomes. Epidemiol. Rev. 16, 315–334 (1994).
Pastore, L. M. & Savitz, D. A. Case-control study of caffeinated beverages and preterm delivery. Am. J. Epidemiol. 141, 61–69 (1995).
Romero, R., Dey, S. K. & Fisher, S. J. Preterm labor: one syndrome, many causes. Science 345, 760–765 (2014).
Romero, R. et al. The role of infection in preterm labour and delivery. Paediatr. Perinat. Epidemiol. 15 Suppl 2, 41–56 (2001).
Mold, J. E. et al. Maternal alloantigens promote the development of tolerogenic fetal regulatory T cells in utero. Science 322, 1562–1565 (2008).
Tucker, J. & McGuire, W. Epidemiology of preterm birth. BMJ 329, 675–678 (2004).
Grover, V. P. B. et al. Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Principles and Techniques: Lessons for Clinicians. J. Clin. Exp. Hepatol. 5, 246–255 (2015).
MRI: Basic Physics & a Brief History. (2013).
Hart, A. R., Whitby, E. W., Griffiths, P. D. & Smith, M. F. Magnetic resonance imaging and developmental outcome following preterm birth: review of current evidence. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 50, 655–663 (2008).
Volpe, J. J. Neurobiology of periventricular leukomalacia in the premature infant. Pediatr. Res. 50, 553–562 (2001).
Volpe, J. J. Cerebral white matter injury of the premature infant-more common than you think. Pediatrics 112, 176–180 (2003).
Back, S. A., Riddle, A. & McClure, M. M. Maturation-dependent vulnerability of perinatal white matter in premature birth. Stroke 38, 724–730 (2007).
Maalouf, E. F. et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in a cohort of extremely preterm infants. J. Pediatr. 135, 351–357 (1999).
Maalouf, E. F. et al. Comparison of findings on cranial ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging in preterm infants. Pediatrics 107, 719–727 (2001).
Counsell, S. J., Rutherford, M. A., Cowan, F. M. & Edwards, A. D. Magnetic resonance imaging of preterm brain injury. Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed. 88, F269-274 (2003).
Inder, T. E., Wells, S. J., Mogridge, N. B., Spencer, C. & Volpe, J. J. Defining the nature of the cerebral abnormalities in the premature infant: a qualitative magnetic resonance imaging study. J. Pediatr. 143, 171–179 (2003).
Gilles, F. H. & Gomez, I.-G. Developmental neuropathology of the second half of gestation. Early Hum. Dev. 81, 245–253 (2005).
Inder, T. E., Warfield, S. K., Wang, H., Hüppi, P. S. & Volpe, J. J. Abnormal cerebral structure is present at term in premature infants. Pediatrics 115, 286–294 (2005).
Peterson, B. S. et al. Regional brain volumes and their later neurodevelopmental correlates in term and preterm infants. Pediatrics 111, 939–948 (2003).
Gillard, Frank. Periventricular leukomalacia. (2023).
Heeger, D. J. & Ress, D. What does fMRI tell us about neuronal activity? Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 3, 142–151 (2002).
Kanel, D., Counsell, S. J. & Nosarti, C. Advances in functional and diffusion neuroimaging research into the long-term consequences of very preterm birth. J. Perinatol. Off. J. Calif. Perinat. Assoc. 41, 689–706 (2021).
Froudist-Walsh, S. et al. Very Early Brain Damage Leads to Remodeling of the Working Memory System in Adulthood: A Combined fMRI/Tractography Study. J. Neurosci. Off. J. Soc. Neurosci. 35, 15787–15799 (2015).
Schafer, R. J. et al. Alterations in functional connectivity for language in prematurely born adolescents. Brain J. Neurol. 132, 661–670 (2009).
Daselaar, S. M., Prince, S. E. & Cabeza, R. When less means more: deactivations during encoding that predict subsequent memory. NeuroImage 23, 921–927 (2004).
Allotey, J. et al. Cognitive, motor, behavioural and academic performances of children born preterm: a meta-analysis and systematic review involving 64 061 children. BJOG Int. J. Obstet. Gynaecol. 125, 16–25 (2018).
Kalpakidou, A. K. et al. Functional neuroanatomy of executive function after neonatal brain injury in adults who were born very preterm. PloS One 9, e113975 (2014).
Nosarti, C. et al. Neural substrates of letter fluency processing in young adults who were born very preterm: alterations in frontal and striatal regions. NeuroImage 47, 1904–1913 (2009).
Ment, L. R. & Constable, R. T. Injury and recovery in the developing brain: evidence from functional MRI studies of prematurely born children. Nat. Clin. Pract. Neurol. 3, 558–571 (2007).
Lee, M. H., Smyser, C. D. & Shimony, J. S. Resting-state fMRI: a review of methods and clinical applications. AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol. 34, 1866–1872 (2013).
Lang, S., Duncan, N. & Northoff, G. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging: review of neurosurgical applications. Neurosurgery 74, 453–64; discussion 464-465 (2014).
Le Bihan, D. Looking into the functional architecture of the brain with diffusion MRI. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 4, 469–480 (2003).
Diffusion Weighted Imaging. (2014).
Batalle, D. et al. Early development of structural networks and the impact of prematurity on brain connectivity. NeuroImage 149, 379–392 (2017).
Allin, M. P. G. et al. White matter and cognition in adults who were born preterm. PloS One 6, e24525 (2011).
Ball, G. et al. The influence of preterm birth on the developing thalamocortical connectome. Cortex J. Devoted Study Nerv. Syst. Behav. 49, 1711–1721 (2013).
Counsell, S. J. et al. Diffusion-weighted imaging of the brain in preterm infants with focal and diffuse white matter abnormality. Pediatrics 112, 1–7 (2003).
Ball, G. et al. Rich-club organization of the newborn human brain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 111, 7456–7461 (2014).
Zhao, T. et al. Structural network maturation of the preterm human brain. NeuroImage 185, 699–710 (2019).
Cohen, M. X. Where Does EEG Come From and What Does It Mean? Trends Neurosci. 40, 208–218 (2017).
Watanabe, K., Hayakawa, F. & Okumura, A. Neonatal EEG: a powerful tool in the assessment of brain damage in preterm infants. Brain Dev. 21, 361–372 (1999).
van de Bor, M., van Dijk, J. G., van Bel, F., Brouwer, O. F. & van Sweden, B. Electrical brain activity in preterm infants at risk for intracranial hemorrhage. Acta Paediatr. Oslo Nor. 1992 83, 588–595 (1994).
Kuremoto, K., Hayakawa, F. & Watanabe, K. [Rhythmic alpha/theta bursts in the electroencephalogram of early premature infants: (2). Correlation with background EEG activity]. No Hattatsu Brain Dev. 29, 244–248 (1997).
Lombroso, C. T. Neonatal polygraphy in full-term and premature infants: a review of normal and abnormal findings. J. Clin. Neurophysiol. Off. Publ. Am. Electroencephalogr. Soc. 2, 105–155 (1985).
Hayakawa, F. [Evaluation of serial EEG recordings and auditory brainstem responses in the early preterm infants]. No Hattatsu Brain Dev. 24, 164–168 (1992).
Hayakawa, F., Okumura, A., Kato, T., Kuno, K. & Watanabe, K. Disorganized patterns: chronic-stage EEG abnormality of the late neonatal period following severely depressed EEG activities in early preterm infants. Neuropediatrics 28, 272–275 (1997).
Lopes da Silva, F. EEG and MEG: relevance to neuroscience. Neuron 80, 1112–1128 (2013).
Alexander, G. E. & Crutcher, M. D. Functional architecture of basal ganglia circuits: neural substrates of parallel processing. Trends Neurosci. 13, 266–271 (1990).
Repovs, G., Csernansky, J. G. & Barch, D. M. Brain network connectivity in individuals with schizophrenia and their siblings. Biol. Psychiatry 69, 967–973 (2011).
Meyer-Lindenberg, A. From maps to mechanisms through neuroimaging of schizophrenia. Nature 468, 194–202 (2010).
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2023 Omkar Rege
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright holder(s) granted JSR a perpetual, non-exclusive license to distriute & display this article.
