Early MRI in term infants with perinatal hypoxic–ischaemic brain injury: Interobserver agreement and MRI predictors of outcome at 2 years

Prognostic Value of the Apparent Diffusion Coefficient in Newborns with Hypoxic-Ischaemic Encephalopathy Treated with Therapeutic Hypothermia

“…Our findings are similar to the results of these studies, and we could demonstrate that low ADC values in the PLIC, thalamus, semioval centre, and frontal and parietal white matter were associated with an adverse outcome. However, other investigators did not find this relationship in newborns with HIE who were treated without hypothermia [5,14]. These conflicting findings may be attributable to the limited sample size of the studies ( n = 10-30) and variable timing of MRI in the patient cohorts (ranging from 1 to 18 days).…”

“…Conventional T1- and T2-weighted images are the main sequences that are used in MRI, but interpretation is subject to subjectivity and low interobserver agreement has been reported [5]. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and quantitative assessment via apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) might be more objective sequences that can allow an earlier evaluation after ischaemic injury.…”

The impact of a register on the management of neonatal cooling in Switzerland

“…A similar low frequency of MRI was seen between both time periods despite the fact that cooling protocols underscore the importance of MR imaging. MRI is the best imaging technique to detect the pattern and severity of brain injury, and since it correlates very well with neurological outcome at 18 months of age, it provides important information for counselling the parents before discharge of their baby [19,24,25]. Some studies advise combining MRI routinely with MRS as it provides prognostic information [26].…”

Role of EEG background activity, seizure burden and MRI in predicting neurodevelopmental outcome in full-term infants with hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy in the era of therapeutic hypothermia

“…Rutherford et al 32 and more recently Martinez-Biarge et al 10 showed that abnormal signal intensity of the PLIC was a very strong predictor of outcome. Van Rooij et al 19 used the Barkovich score but adjusted it and took the PLIC signal into account and also used the DWI sequence when performing the score, since DWI has been shown to be the most reliable sequence to assess injury in HIE in the first week of life 30 . The adapted Barkovich scoring system was associated with motor and cognitive outcome in our cohort and could, therefore, be used for outcome prediction.…”