Regional Brain Injury Burden on Term-Equivalent MRI Is Associated with Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Extremely Preterm Infants with Intraventricular Hemorrhage

Background/Objectives: Extremely preterm infants remain at high risk of adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, particularly in the presence of intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and associated brain injury. Term-equivalent cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) provides a detailed assessment of structural brain injury and may provide anatomical information not captured by conventional IVH grading. We aimed to investigate whether the extent and regional distribution of cMRI-detected brain injury are associated with neurodevelopment at two years corrected age.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study included extremely preterm infants born before 28 weeks’ gestation with IVH, term-equivalent cMRI, and neurodevelopmental follow-up at two years corrected age. Regional brain injury was assessed on T2-weighted cMRI using a Bassan-derived anatomical approach. Associations with neurodevelopment were examined using multivariable regression models.