Abstract #2061

Veeraraghavan S, Xu D, Mukherjee P, Barkovich A, Miller S, Vigneron D, Charlton N

MR diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a powerful technique for assessing tissue microstructure. In this study, 44 DTI-MR exams from 31 premature newborns with normal 1-year neurodevelopmental outcome were used to establish normative DTI values and to investigate quantitative differences in DTI for 20 preterm infants with abnormal outcome. The normative data was used to define anatomic and maturational changes. Subjects with abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome demonstrated spatial heterogenitiy in abnormal DTI values. In 19/20 cases Dav exceeded 2 standard deviations from normal in ≥1 region, however, the specific regions varied between individuals.