Reduced structural connectivity in non-motor networks in children born preterm and the influence of early postnatal human cytomegalovirus infection.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Preterm birth is increasingly recognized to cause lifelong functional deficits, which often show no correlate in conventional MRI. In addition, early postnatal infection with human cytomegalovirus (hCMV) is being discussed as a possible cause for further impairments. In the present work, we used fixel-based analysis of diffusion-weighted MRI to assess long-term white matter alterations associated with preterm birth and/or early postnatal hCMV infection.

Materials and methods

36 former preterms (PT, median age 14.8 years, median gestational age 28 weeks) and 18 healthy term-born controls (HC, median age 11.1 years) underwent high angular resolution DWI scans (1.5 T, b = 2 000 s/mm², 60 directions) as well as clinical assessment. All subjects sho

SUBMITTER: Pretzel P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10577195 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature