Ruth L. O'Gorman1,
Hans Ulrich Bucher2, Brigitte Koller2, Hadwig
Speckbacher1, David C. Alsop3, 4, Ajit
Shankaranarayanan5, Jean-Claude Fauchere2, Cornelia
Hagmann2
1University
Children's Hospital, Zurich, CH, Switzerland; 2University
Hospital, Zurich, CH, Switzerland; 3Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center, Boston, MA, United States; 4Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA, United States; 5Global Applied Science Laboratory, GE Healthcare,
Menlo Park, CA, United States
This study investigates the link between cerebral perfusion and white matter injury in preterm infants. Cerebral perfusion images were acquired using a background suppressed pulsed continuous arterial spin labeling sequence, and white matter injury scores were derived from structural T1- and T2-weighted MRI using a standardized scoring system. The correlation between perfusion and white matter injury was assessed on a voxelwise basis by permutation testing. White matter injury scores were negatively correlated with perfusion in the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and thalamus, suggesting that perfusion may reflect a selective vulnerability to lesions in these areas and in the cerebral white matter.