Parents of preemies are left with a lot of unknowns when their babies leave the neonatal intensive care unit. Will they stay healthy? grow well? develop normally? The use of MRI to look for evidence of damage in preemies’ brains has become increasingly common, yet we still know very little about what MRI abnormalities mean for as far as lonterm developmental outcomes are concerned.

A recent study published online in the journal Pediatrics has shed some light on the meaning of certain brain abnormalities seen on MRI. The research out of Australia studied 86 preterm infants born at less than 30 weeks gestation, and found that white matter abnormalities were significantly associated with abnormalities of general movement in infancy.

The infants were enrolled into the study and received MRIs near term (38-44 weeks post menstrual age). They were then examined at 1 and 3 months adjusted age to look for abnormalities in general movement. For this analysis, the babies were videotaped at home, lying in a supine position, and the videotapes were examined independently by two different investigators who were blind to the MRI results.

Overall, 53% of the infants were found to have mild white matter abnormalities on MRI, and 12% were found to have moderate-to-severe abnormalities. There was a very strong correlation between normal MRIs and normal general movements. Additionally, consistently abnormal general movements at both 1 and 3 months were related to increasing white matter abnormality on MRI. In contrast, there were no significant relationships between general movement classifications and gray matter abnormalities seen on MRI. Some babies had abnormal findings at one month, but had normal movements at three months. All of these babies had mild white matter injury, and it’s possible that this injury was located in regions of the brain that cease to control motor function after two to three months of age.

While the results of this study are interesting, and there has been previous correlation between cramped synchronized general movements and the diagnosis of cerebral palsy, further follow up will be needed to determine the longterm correlation between white matter injuries and motor disorders. Researchers plan to continue to follow the infants from this study to look at longterm outcomes.

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