Assessment of MRI parameters for studying brain development in newborns with congenital heart disease

Background Microstructural evidence of white matter (WM) dysmaturation in the brains of newborns with congenital heart disease (CHD) using MRI has been previously shown [1]. Further, delayed WM development confers an increased risk of WM injury before and after neonatal cardiac surgery [2]. WM injury is associated with a high incidence of subsequent neurodevelopmental deficits and fetal interventions to improve brain development in the setting of CHD are currently being investigated. We wished to compare the utility of our previously described parameters in another cohort of CHD newborns, and assess the performance of a new parameter (WM T2 relaxation) for discerning differences in WM maturation.