Abstract
Background: Children with trigonocephaly are at risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. The aim of this study is to investigate white matter properties of the frontal lobes in young, unoperated patients with metopic synostosis as compared to healthy controls using diffusion tension imaging (DTI). Methods: Preoperative DTI data sets of 46 patients with trigonocephaly with a median age of 0.49 (interquartile range: 0.38) years were compared with 21 controls with a median age of 1.44 (0.98) years. White matter metrics of the tracts in the frontal lobe were calculated using FMRIB Software Library (FSL). The mean value of tract-specific fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were estimated for each subject and compared to healthy controls. By linear regression, FA and MD values per tract were assessed by trigonocephaly, sex, and age. Results: The mean FA and MD values in the frontal lobe tracts of untreated trigonocephaly patients, younger than 3 years, were not significantly different in comparison to controls, where age showed to be a significant associated factor. Conclusions: Microstructural parameters of white matter tracts of the frontal lobe of patients with trigonocephaly are comparable to those of controls aged 0-3 years.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 42-48 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Pediatric Neurology |
| Volume | 131 |
| Early online date | 15 Apr 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Financial disclosure statement: Research of C.A.P. was supported by Sophia Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (project number: B-16-03a); they had no involvement in any aspect of the study.
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© 2022 The Author(s)