- Differentiation of Speech Delay and Global Developmental Delay in Children Using DTI Tractography-Based Connectome
This study investigated whether diffusion tensor imaging tractography-based connectome can differentiate global developmental delay from speech delay in young children. Twelve children with pure speech delay, 14 children with global developmental delay, and 10 children with typical development underwent 3T DTI. Whole-brain connectome analysis was performed by using 116 cortical ROIs. Network metrics were measured at individual regions: strength, efficiency, cluster coefficient, and betweeness. Compared with typical development, global and local efficiency were significantly reduced in both global developmental delay and speech delay. Nodal strength of the cognitive network was reduced in global developmental delay, whereas the nodal strength of the language network was reduced in speech delay. This finding resulted in a high accuracy of >83% to discriminate global developmental delay from speech delay.
- Diagnostic Value of Prenatal MR Imaging in the Detection of Brain Malformations in Fetuses before the 26th Week of Gestational Age
The authors retrospectively evaluated 109 fetuses within 25 weeks of gestational age who had undergone both prenatal and postnatal MR imaging of the brain between 2002 and 2014, and using the postnatal MRI as the reference standard, they calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the prenatal MRI in detecting brain malformations. Prenatal MR imaging failed to detect correctly 11 of the 111 malformations. They conclude that diagnostic value of prenatal MRI for brain malformations within 25 weeks of GA is very high, despite limitations of sensitivity in the early detection of disorders of cortical development, such as polymicrogyria and periventricular nodular heterotopias.
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