572 Routine Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain at Term Corrected Age in All Our Very Low Birth Weight Infants

Background and aims: To compare findings of cranial ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the neonatal brain.Methods: A retrospective population based cohort study of premature infants with a very low birth weight (VLBW) of less then 1500 grams who were admitted to our neonatal unit on day 1 (period: 2007 to 2009).All infants underwent cranial US on day 1, 3, 7, 14, 28, 42 monthly thereafter and at term corrected age. Infants who were eligible for this study obtained a MRI at term (37 to 42 weeks gestational age) corrected age.Retrospectively, we compared the cranial US findings as a predictor of a wide spectrum of pathology on MRI.Results: Paired MRI and US studies were performed in (n=140) VLBW infants who were born at a median gestational age of 28 (range: 22+1 to 34+5) weeks and a median birth weight of 1020 (range: 335 to 1495) grams.US predicted some MRI findings accurately: germinal layer haemorrhage (GLH), cystic lesions, intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH) and severe white matter (WM) echogenicity on US for the presence of WM haemorrhagic parenchymal infarction on MRI.Other MRI changes were less well-predicted: delay in maturation and myelination, reduced cortical folding, congenital malformations, punctate lesions and mild or no WM echogenicity on US for the presence of normal (n=112) WM signal intensity on MRI.Conclusions: MRI of the neonatal brain might shed light on the origin of brain lesions causing long-term neurodevelopmental sequelae and might change our perinatal and neonatal management.