This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Take the CME quiz:
 Vol. 19 No. 2, February 2008
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Moore, K. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Moore, K. R.

AAP Grand Rounds 19:18-19 (2008)
© 2008 American Academy of Pediatrics

CRITICAL CARE

Brain Development and Congenital Heart Disease

Source: Miller SP, McQuillen PS, Hamrick S, et al. Abnormal brain development in newborns with congenital heart disease. N Engl J Med. 2007;357(19):1928–1938; doi:10.1056/NEJMoa067393.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.


PICO

Question: In children with congenital heart disease, are central nervous system abnormalities apparent on brain imaging studies before surgical correction of the heart defect?

Question type: Prognosis

Study design: Prospective cohort

 

To determine whether brain development in neonates with cyanotic congenital heart disease is impaired before neonatal cardiac surgery, investigators from the University of California at San Francisco, University of British Columbia, and Emory University compared preoperative brain imaging studies in infants with congenital heart disease and in normal term infants.

Imaging studies performed included brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), three-dimensional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). MRS was used to evaluate N-acetylaspartate (NAA)-to-choline ratios; decreased ratios are indicative of metabolic changes associated with brain development and injury. DTI, which characterizes the three-dimensional spatial distribution of water diffusion in each voxel of the MRI scan, was utilized to provide a sensitive measure of regional brain microstructural development.

A total of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Kevin R. Moore, MD, FAAP
Pediatric Radiology and Neuroradiology, Primary Children’s Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT