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Brain Advance Access published online on August 25, 2005
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awh610
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© The Author (2005). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Received March 6, 2005
Revised June 23, 2005
Accepted July 11, 2005

Article

Cerebral cortex thickness in 15-year-old adolescents with low birth weight measured by an automated MRI-based method

M. Martinussen 1*, B. Fischl 2, H. B. Larsson 3, J. Skranes 4, S. Kulseng 4, T. R. Vangberg 5, T. Vik 6, A.-M. Brubakk 4, O. Haraldseth 7, and A. M. Dale 8

1 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
2 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT, Boston, MA
3 Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Functional and Diagnostic MR unit, Glostrup University Hospital, Denmark
4 Laboratory Medicine, Children's and Women's Health, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
5 Department of Medical Imaging, St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
6 Department of Public Health and General Practice, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
7 Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Medical Imaging, St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
8 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT, Boston, MA; Department of Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA; Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, CA, USA; Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
M. Martinussen, E-mail: marit.martinussen{at}ntnu.no


  Abstract

Infants with low birth weight are at increased risk of perinatal brain injury. Disruption of normal cortical development may have consequences for later motor, behavioural and cognitive development. The aim of this study was to measure cerebral cortical thickness, area and volume with an automated MRI technique in 15-year-old adolescents who had low birth weight. Cerebral MRI for morphometric analysis was performed on 50 very low birth weight (VLBW, birth weight ≤1500 g), 49 term small for gestational age births (SGA, birth weight <10th percentile at term) and 58 control adolescents. A novel method of cortical surface models yielded measurements of cortical thickness and area for each subject's entire brain and computed cross-subject statistics based on cortical anatomy. The cortical surface models demonstrated regional thinning of the parietal, temporal and occipital lobes in the VLBW group, whereas regional thickening was demonstrated in the frontal and occipital lobes. The areas of change were greatest in those with the shortest gestational age at birth and lowest birth weight. Cortical surface area and cortical volume were lower in the VLBW than in the Control group. Within the VLBW group, there was an association between surface area and estimation of the intelligence quotient IQ (IQest) and between cortical volume and IQest. Furthermore, cortical grey matter as a proportion of brain volume was significantly lower in the VLBW, but not in the SGA group compared with Controls. This observed reorganization of the developing brain offers a unique opportunity to investigate any relationship between changes in cortical anatomy and cognitive and social impairments, and the increase in psychiatric disorders that have been found in VLBW children and adolescents.

Keywords: cerebral cortex; very low birth weight; small for gestational age; MRI; IQ.
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