Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Clinical Trial
. 2006 Oct;118(4):1467-77.
doi: 10.1542/peds.2005-2976.

Comparative prognostic utilities of early quantitative magnetic resonance imaging spin-spin relaxometry and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in neonatal encephalopathy

Shanthi Shanmugalingam  1 , John S Thornton, Osuke Iwata, Alan Bainbridge, Frances E O'Brien, Andrew N Priest, Roger J Ordidge, Ernest B Cady, John S Wyatt, Nicola J Robertson
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Comparative prognostic utilities of early quantitative magnetic resonance imaging spin-spin relaxometry and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in neonatal encephalopathy

Shanthi Shanmugalingam et al. Pediatrics. 2006 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: We sought to compare the prognostic utilities of early MRI spin-spin relaxometry and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in neonatal encephalopathy.

Methods: Twenty-one term infants with neonatal encephalopathy were studied at a mean age of 3.1 days (range: 1-5). Basal ganglia, thalamic and frontal, parietal, and occipital white matter spin-spin relaxation times were determined from images with echo times of 25 and 200 milliseconds. Metabolite ratios were determined from an 8-mL thalamic-region magnetic resonance spectroscopy voxel (1H point-resolved spectroscopy; echo time 270 milliseconds). Outcomes were assigned at age 1 year as follows: (1) normal, (2) moderate (neuromotor signs or Griffiths developmental quotient of 75-84), (3) severe (functional neuromotor deficit or developmental quotient <75 or died). Predictive efficacies for differentiation between normal and adverse (combined moderate and severe) outcomes were compared by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and logistic regression.

Results: Thalamic and basal ganglia spin-spin relaxation times correlated positively with outcome and predicted adversity. Although thalamic and basal ganglia spin-spin relaxation times were prognostic of adversity, magnetic resonance spectroscopy metabolite ratios were better predictors, and, of these, lactate/N-acetylaspartate was most accurate.

Conclusions: Deep gray matter spin-spin relaxation time was increased in the first few days after birth in infants with an adverse outcome. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was more prognostic than spin-spin relaxation time, with lactate/N-acetylaspartate the best measure. Nevertheless, both techniques were useful for early prognosis, and the potential superior spatial resolution of spin-spin relaxometry may define better the precise anatomic pattern of injury in the early days after birth.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources