Reduced occipital regional volumes at term predict impaired visual function in early childhood in very low birth weight infants

Shah DK, Guinane C, August P, Austin NC, Woodward LJ, Thompson DK, Warfield SK, Clemett R, Inder TE. Reduced occipital regional volumes at term predict impaired visual function in early childhood in very low birth weight infants. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2006;47(8):3366–73.

Abstract

PURPOSE: Premature infants are at increased risk of impaired visual performance related to both cortical and subcortical pathways for oculomotor control. The hypothesis for the current study was that preterm infants with impaired saccades, smooth pursuit, and binocular eye alignment at age 2 years would have smaller occipital brain volumes at term equivalent, as measured by volumetric magnetic resonance (MR) techniques, than would preterm infants without such abnormalities. METHODS: Study participants consisted of 68 infants from a representative regional cohort of 100 preterm infants born between 23 and 33 weeks’ gestation. At term equivalent, all infants underwent MR imaging, and the images were coregistered, tissue segmented into five cerebral tissue subtypes, and further subdivided into eight regions for each hemisphere. At 2 years corrected, all infants completed a comprehensive orthoptic evaluation performed by a single examiner.
Last updated on 02/24/2023