title: Clinical Implications of Diffuse Excessive High Signal Intensity (DEHSI) on Neonatal MRI in School Age Children Born Extremely Preterm.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain carried out during the neonatal period shows that 55-80% of extremely preterm infants display white matter diffuse excessive high signal intensity (DEHSI). Our aim was to study differences in developmental outcome at the age of 6.5 years in children born extremely preterm with and without DEHSI.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective cohort study of 83 children who were born in Stockholm, Sweden, between 2004 and 2007, born at gestational age of < 27 weeks + 0 days and who underwent an MRI scan of their brain at term equivalent age. The outcome measures at 6.5 years included testing 66 children with the modified Touwen neurology examination, the Movement Assessment Battery for Children 2, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition, Beery Visual-motor Integration test-Sixth Edition, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Group-wise comparisons were done between children with and without DEHSI using Student t-test, Mann Whitney U test, Chi square test and regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  DEHSI was detected in 39 (59%) of the 66 children who were assessed at 6.5 years. The presence of DEHSI was not associated with mild neurological dysfunction, scores on M-ABC assessment, cognition, visual-motor integration, or behavior at 6.5 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The presence of qualitatively defined DEHSI on neonatal MRI did not prove to be a useful predictor of long-term impairment in children born extremely preterm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Broström
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Neonatal Unit, Sachs' Children and Youth Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bolk
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Nelly
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Padilla
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Neonatal Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Béatrice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Skiöld
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Eklöf
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Gustaf
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mårtensson
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Clinical Neurosciences, Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vollmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Neonatal Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ulrika
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ådén
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D062071:Infant, Extremely Premature / Q000502:physiology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D012574:Schools; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted