Abstract #2032

Quantitative Fiber Tracking in the Premature at Term Age Shows a Correlation with MRI Findings, Gestational Age and Head Circumference

Carola van Pul^1,2, Britt van Kooij³, Gijs Hoskam⁴, Linda de Vries³, Manon Benders³, Anna Vilanova⁴, Floris Groenendaal³

¹Clinical Physics, Maxima Medical Center, Veldhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands; ²School of Medical Physics and Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands; ³Neonatology, Wilhemina Children's Hospital, Utrecht, Netherlands; ⁴Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

We studied 92 prematurely born neonates (<31 weeks) at term equivalent age using quantitative Fiber Tracking (FT), generated on 3.0T MRI. Patients were divided into three groups, based on scoring of the conventional MRIs. Using a general linear model, the effects of factor (group) and variables (gestational age, birth weight and head circumference) were tested. For the FA and ADC in corpus callosum fiber bundle, a significant relation with MR group was observed. Furthermore, for the corpus callosum, volume, Cl and length depended significantly on the gestational age, suggesting an influence of age at birth on brain maturation.