Abstract #4325

Grey & White Matter Differences in 1H-MRS Metabolic Ratios in the Preterm Brain

Dallas Card¹, John G, Sled^2,3, Aideen M. Moore^4,5, Hilary E. Whyte^4,5, Margot J. Taylor^1,6

¹Diagnostic Imaging, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ²Physiology & Experimental Medicine, Research Institute, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ³Medical Biophysics, the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ⁴Neonatology, the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ⁵Paediatrics, the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ⁶Medical Imaging, the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) provides a metabolic snapshot of the brain, and therefore has the potential to provide important insight into preterm brain development. We have combined a short MRSI scan with a fully-automated spectroscopy analysis pipeline and tissue classification to provide estimates of metabolite ratios in 55 very preterm neonates scanned within two weeks of birth. A one-way ANOVA demonstrated a significant difference between white matter and grey matter for both N-Acetylaspartate (NAA) / Choline and NAA / Creatine. In addition, NAA/Choline significant increased with age in grey matter over the preterm period.