During the perinatal period the brain undergoes extensive development, including increasing brain perfusion and metabolism. More rapidly modifying brain areas may be more sensitive to insults and transient hypoxic states. We performed PCASL on 115 infants at term equivalent age (TEA) with variable gestational age at birth. Insular-subcortical and somato-motor regions exhibited high grey matter CBF(GM) in both term and preterm newborns. However, premature neonates showed a redistribution of perfusion compared to term infants, with somato-motor regions showing even higher CBFGM. These results suggest that insular-subcortical and somato-motor regions may reflect brain health and development at TEA.
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