Elda Fischi-Gomez1,
Franois Lazeyras2, Cristina Borradori-Tolsa3,
Jean-Philippe Thiran1,
1Signal Processing
Laboratory 5 (LTS5), Ecole Politechnique Federale de Lausanne, Lausanne,
Vaud, Switzerland; 2Service of Radiology, University Hospital of
Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 3Division of Development &
Growth. Department of Pediatrics,
Survival of children born prematurely or with very low birth weight has increased dramatically in the last decades, but the long term developmental outcome remains a concern. The most common cerebral neuro-pathology observed in case of premature birth is a diffuse white matter abnormality. However, many of the children born prematurely present indeed deficits in their cognitive capacities, in particular involving executive domains. The origins of these disabilities are largely unknown but are likely to involve an overriding central nervous system deficit. To understand the neurostructural origin of these disabilities and to investigate the effect of prematurity and intra uterine growth restriction in pre-school children aged 6 years old, we have combined imaging with DWI and TBSS.