Fixel-based analysis of the preterm brain: Disentangling bundle-specific white matter microstructural and macrostructural changes in relation to clinical risk factors.

ABSTRACT: Diffusion MRI (dMRI) studies using the tensor model have identified abnormal white matter development associated with perinatal risk factors in preterm infants studied at term equivalent age (TEA). However, this model is an oversimplification of the underlying neuroanatomy. Fixel-based analysis (FBA) is a novel quantitative framework, which identifies microstructural and macrostructural changes in individual fibre populations within voxels containing crossing fibres. The aim of this study was to apply FBA to investigate the relationship between fixel-based measures of apparent fibre density (FD), fibre bundle cross-section (FC), and fibre density and cross-section (FDC) and perinatal risk factors in preterm infants at TEA. We studied 50 infants (28 male) born at 24.0-32.9 (median 30.4) wee

SUBMITTER: Pecheva D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6462822 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature