Published online Sep 28, 2020. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v12.i9.204
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
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.
Most children with non-cyanotic congenital heart disease have a lack of assessment of preoperative brain development.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.