Index by author

A cohort of 44 preterm infants underwent T1WI, resting-state fMRI, and DTI at 3T, including 21 infants with brain injuries and 23 infants with normal-appearing structural imaging as controls. Neurodevelopment was evaluated with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development at 12 months' adjusted age. Results showed decreased fractional anisotropy and elevated radial diffusivity values of the cingula in the preterm infants with brain injuries compared with controls. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development cognitive scores were significantly associated with cingulate fractional anisotropy. The authors suggest that the microstructural properties of interconnecting axonal pathways within the default mode network are of critical importance in the early neurocognitive development of infants.

The purpose of this study was to use DCE MR imaging to quantify the contrast permeability of intracranial atherosclerotic disease plaques in 10 symptomatic patients and to compare these parameters against existing markers of plaque volatility using black-blood MR imaging pulse sequences. K^trans and fractional plasma volume (Vp) measurements were higher in plaques versus healthy white matter and similar or less than values in the choroid plexus. Only K^trans correlated significantly with time from symptom onset. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging parameters were not found to correlate significantly with intraplaque enhancement or hyperintensity. The authors suggest that K^trans may be an independent imaging biomarker of acute and symptom-associated pathologic changes in intracranial atherosclerotic disease plaques.