Jia X, Ma XH, Liang JW. Application of voxel-based morphometric method to detect brain changes in children with non-cyanotic congenital heart disease. World J Radiol 2020; 12(9): 204-212 [PMID: 33033575 DOI: 10.4329/wjr.v12.i9.204]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Xuan Jia, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 3333 Binsheng Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China. 6202059@zju.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Neuroimaging
Article-Type of This Article
Clinical Trials Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Radiol. Sep 28, 2020; 12(9): 204-212 Published online Sep 28, 2020. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v12.i9.204
Application of voxel-based morphometric method to detect brain changes in children with non-cyanotic congenital heart disease
Xuan Jia, Xiao-Hui Ma, Jia-Wei Liang
Xuan Jia, Xiao-Hui Ma, Jia-Wei Liang, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Jia X and Ma XH designed the study; Jia X wrote the first draft of the manuscript; Liang JW collected the data; Zhou HC performed the literature search and analysis; Mi YH conducted the statistical analysis; all authors participated in and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine.
Clinical trial registration statement: The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee of the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 2019-IRB-047.
Informed consent statement: The parents/legal guardians of all children provided written informed consent before their participation in this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors are solely responsible for the content and writing of this article.
Data sharing statement: All authors agree to share the data in this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xuan Jia, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of Radiology, The Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, No. 3333 Binsheng Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China. 6202059@zju.edu.cn
Received: April 19, 2020 Peer-review started: April 19, 2020 First decision: June 5, 2020 Revised: June 7, 2020 Accepted: August 25, 2020 Article in press: August 25, 2020 Published online: September 28, 2020 Processing time: 162 Days and 1.5 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
In children with congenital heart disease (CHD), abnormalities in the development and function of the nervous system are common. At present, there is a lack of research on the preoperative neurological development and injury in young children with non-cyanotic CHD.
Research motivation
Most children with non-cyanotic congenital heart disease have a lack of assessment of preoperative brain development.
Research objectives
The objective of the current study was to determine the changes in white matter, gray matter, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in children with non-cyanotic CHD as compared with healthy controls.
Research methods
Children diagnosed with non-cyanotic CHD and healthy control subjects aged 1–3 years were included in the study. Brain MRI was performed prior to surgery for CHD. The SPM v12 software was used to calculate the volumes of the gray matter, white matter, CSF, and the whole brain. Volume differences between the two groups were analyzed. Voxel-based morphometry was used to compare specific brain regions with statistically significant atrophy.
Research results
The study group had significantly reduced whole-brain white matter volume. Children with non-cyanotic CHD had mild underdevelopment in the white matter of the anterior central gyrus, the posterior central gyrus, and the pulvinar.
Research conclusions
Children with non-cyanotic CHD show decreased white matter volume before surgery, and this volume reduction is mainly concentrated in the somatosensory and somatic motor nerve regions.
Research perspectives
A controlled follow-up study is required to analyze the changes in the area of white matter damage after the improvement of hypoxia following interventional surgery for CHD.
