Early postnatal cranial ultrasonography linear measures to predict neurodevelopment at 2 years in infants born at <30 weeks’ gestation without major brain injury on sequential imaging

Abstract

Background: Infants born very preterm – less than 32 weeks’ gestational age (GA) – are at risk of long-term adverse neurodevelopment related to perinatal brain injury and aberrations in brain growth and maturation. Neuroimaging within the newborn period can aid clinicians to identify high-risk infants for developmental surveillance and early intervention therapy. Cranial ultrasonography (cUS) is the most frequently used neuroimaging modality for preterm infants because it is widely available, portable, and repeatable. Whilst early and sequential cUS can reliably detect most major preterm brain injury, it remains less sensitive than brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the more prev..