Abstract #0027

Diminished Regional Brain Growth is Associated with Impaired White Matter Microstructural Development Following Premature Birth

Gareth Ball¹, James P. Boardman^{1, 2}, Daniel Rueckert³, Paul Aljabar³, Tomoki Arichi^{1, 4}, Nazakat Merchant^1,4, Ioannis S. Gousias¹, A. David Edwards^{1, 4}, Serena J. Counsell¹

¹Imperial College London & MRC Clinical Sciences Centre, London, United Kingdom; ²Simpson Centre for Reproductive Health, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; ³Department of Computing, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom; ⁴Division of Neonatology, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, United Kingdom

Preterm birth is a leading cause of cognitive impairment in childhood, and is associated with a spectrum of structural brain abnormalities but the nature and evolution of these developmental processes are poorly understood. Using multi-modal magnetic resonance image analysis we demonstrate a specific pattern of cerebral growth that is related linearly to gestational age at birth, and show that thalamic size is directly related to the integrity of developing white matter tracts. These findings confirm that diminished thalamic growth and alterations in white matter microstructure occur in parallel after premature birth, possibly representing downstream consequences of a common primary insult.