Aim: To establish reference ranges for regional brain volumes in normally developing very preterm infants without brain injury at term-equivalent age, using automated brain segmentation, and to explore associations with sex and gestational age. Method: This was a cross-sectional study of very preterm infants (gestational age <32 weeks) with structurally normal magnetic resonance imaging at term-equivalent age and normal neurodevelopmental outcomes up to 2 years of age. 3-Tesla MRI scans were processed using Infant Free Surfer, a fully automated segmentation tool, yielding 26 regional brain structures. MRIs were acquired on the same scanner. Only scans of highest quality, confirmed by expert consensus, were included. Associations between regional brain volumes and gestational age, as well as sex differences were assessed using Pearson correlations and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: The final cohort included 55 infants (24 male) with a median gestational age of 29.4 (interquartile range: 27.6-31.0) weeks. Reference volumes and sex-stratified centiles (3rd-97th) are provided. Male infants had significantly larger volumes of the putamen (p=0.031) and the hippocampus (p=0.003). Gestational age showed weak or no correlations with regional brain volumes. Interpretation: This study establishes normative data on regional brain volumes in a well-defined cohort of normally developing very preterm infants without brain injury at term-equivalent age. These data provide a reference for future research on early brain development and may support studies investigating whether deviations from typical brain development can be detected and inform early interventions.
Hammerl et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
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