Prediction of Clinical Outcome of Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging Assessed by a Reproducible Objective Quantification Scheme (ROQS) in the Perinatal Period

Sumit Narayan Niogi¹, Daniel Rosenbaum¹, Jeffrey Perlman², Linda Heier¹, Arzu Kovanlikaya¹

Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy causes significant disability in newborns and accounts for about 25% of children with cerebral palsy. As of yet, there is no reliable biomarker to predict which of these infants will have poor outcome. . However, DTI is sensitive to subtle microstructural changes overlooked by conventional imaging. As shown in this study, variations in white matter integrity in specific pathways (the anterior and posterior limbs of the internal capsule and forceps major) can predict clinical outcome after treatment with therapeutic hypothermia.