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Background: Identification of early signs of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has proven of prognostic significance. Yet, the importance of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), being present concomitantly had not been investigated yet, despite the known influence of hypothermia on hemostasis. We aimed to determine whether presence of ICH on MRI alongside the signs of HIE have an impact on prognosis in neonates with the clinical diagnosis of HIE., Methods: A retrospective study of consecutively sampled 108 asphyxiated term infants admitted to a tertiary neonatal intensive care unit (between 2007 and 2016), treated with whole body hypothermia and having brain MRI within 1 week of life was conducted. Presence or absence of HIE signs on MRI (basal ganglia-thalamus, watershed pattern and total brain injury) and on MR spectroscopy (lactate peak with decreased normal metabolites measured by Lac/NAA ratio) and/or of the five major types of ICH were recorded. Neurodevelopmental outcome was measured with Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II (BSID-II) test. Death or abnormal neurodevelopment (BSID-II score < 85) was defined as poor outcome in Chi-square test. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed on survivors., Results: MRI and MR-spectroscopy (MRS) signs of HIE were present in 72% (n = 78). 36% (n = 39) of neonates had ICH, being mainly small in size. Chi-square test showed a relationship between neurodevelopmental outcome and initial MRI. Unadjusted logistic regression showed that neonates presenting MRI and MRS signs of HIE have 6.23 times higher odds for delayed mental development (OR = 6.2292; CI95% = [1.2642; 30.6934], p = 0.0246), than infants without imaging alterations; with no ICH effect on outcome. Adjustment for clinical and imaging parameters did not change the pattern of results, i.e. HIE remained an independent risk factor for delayed neurodevelopment (OR = 6.2496; CI95% = [1.2018; 32.4983], p = 0.0294), while ICH remained to have no significant effect., Conclusion: HIE related MRI abnormalities proved to be important prognostic factors of poor outcome in cooled asphyxiated infants when present, suggesting that early MRI with MRS is beneficial for prognostication. Interestingly, ICHs present in about one third of all cases had no significant effect on neurodevelopmental outcome, despite the known hemostasis altering effects of hypothermia.

Background and Purpose: To develop an evidence-based, standardized structured reporting (SR) method for brain MRI examinations in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) suitable both for clinical and research use., Methods: SR template development was based on comprehensive review of the pertinent literature with the basic sections and subdivisions of the template defined according to MRI sequences (both conventional and diffusion-weighted, MR-spectroscopy (MRS), and T2*-weighted imaging), and the items targeted on age-related imaging patterns of HIE. In order to evaluate the usability of the proposed SR template we compared data obtained from the brain MR image analysis of 87 term and 19 preterm neonates with the literature. The enrolled 106 infants were born between 2013 and 2015, went through therapeutic hypothermia according to the TOBY criteria due to moderate to severe asphyxia and had at least one brain MRI examination within the first two weeks of life. Ethical approval was obtained for this retrospective study. Descriptive statistical analysis was also performed on data exported from the structured reporting system as feasibility test., Results: The mean gestational age of the study population was 38.3±2.2 weeks; brain MRI was performed on 5.8±2.9 day of life, hence in 78% of our patients after the conclusion of therapeutic hypothermia. Our main imaging findings were concordant to the pertinent literature. Moreover, we identified a characteristic temporal evolution of diffusion changes. Interestingly 18% (n=19/106) of the clinically asphyxiated infants had isolated axial-extraaxial haemorrhage without any imaging sign of HIE., Conclusion: In this article our approach of reporting HIE cases with our novel SR template is described. The SR template was found suitable for reporting HIE cases, moreover it uncovered time and location dependent evolution of diffusion abnormalities (and pseudonormalization, as well), suggesting its usefulness in clinical research applications. The high number of isolated intracranial haemorrhages, and the changing diffusion pattern emphasizes the importance of early imaging in HIE.