Tracking developmental changes in subcortical structures of the preterm brain using multi-modal MRI

Preterm birth is associated with abnormal brain development and long-term neurodevelopmental impairment. Quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) studies of preterm brain injury have focused on morphological features such as shape and volume and on measures of tissue microstructure obtained from diffusion tensor imaging. In this work, we focus on longitudinal changes in signal intensity, which can offer a useful marker for mapping developmental changes. The proposed analysis framework utilises spatial normalization, intensity normalization and kernel regression. Changes over time in T1- and T2- weighted signal intensity were measured in subcortical grey matter and white matter. The study shows that quantitative signal change analysis on a large cohort is feasible, and that it can serve as a marker for developmental brain changes, both normal and abnormal, which might ultimately lead to a better understanding of the trajectory of early brain maturation.