fMRI of Very Premature Infants (<32 Weeks GA) at Birth

¹Diagnostic Imaging, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada; ²Division of Neurology, Hospital for Sick Children; ³Physiology Experimental Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children; ⁴Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada; ⁵Division of Neonatology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada

Roughly half of all very premature infants, born <32 weeks GA, will have cognitive deficits. Currently, there are no accurate prognostic tools for predicting which infants will suffer cognitive dysfunction. fMRI of this population could potentially aid clinicians in identifying at risk infants. However, to date there is no literature on the acquisition of fMRI data in very preterm infants. This work focuses on efforts to identify and resolve the technical challenges associated with fMRI of this population. It is the first of its kind to show BOLD activity in very preterm infants at birth.