Deanne K. Thompson1,
Christopher Adamson1, Cristina G. Omizzolo1, Lex W.
Doyle2, Gary F. Egan3, Terrie E. Inder4,
Peter J. Anderson1
1Murdoch
Childrens Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; 2Royal
Women's Hospital, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; 3Monash
University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia; 4St Louis Children's
Hospital, St Louis, MO, United States
This study is the first to map the early developmental trajectory of regional hippocampal changes between infancy and childhood. Hippocampi were manually traced at term-equivalent and at 7 years on 24 full-term and 119 very preterm subjects. Longitudinal regional changes were observed using the spherical harmonic point distribution model, and a group comparison was made. Both full-term and very preterm infants hippocampi undergo infolding or curling up between infancy and 7 years. Furthermore, the developmental trajectory of the hippocampus between infancy and 7 years in VPT children differs from that of FT children, particularly for the left side.