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Aim of the study: Assess the potential benefits of performing an early cerebral MRI to evaluate the gravity of cerebral lesions among premature neonates at risk of neurologic sequels and establish correlations between EEG findings, abnormal neuroimaging findings and neurodevelopment.Methods: A MRI was performed in 34 premature newborn babies with abnormal neurological clinical signs, and/or with two abnormal EEG and/or with two abnormal cerebral ultrasound scans. The mean age and the adjusted age of our population were 5 weeks (range 1–11 weeks) and 35 weeks of adjusted age (range 29–40 weeks) respectively. The neuroimaging findings were correlated to the results of three EEGs (recorded before 15 days old, between 15 days and one month old, and after the first month of life) and to neurodevelopment.Results: Two statically significant correlations were found between: 1) the severity of brain injuries observed in MRI and the results of the latest EEG (sensitivity 100%, specificity 60%), 2) the severity of brain injuries observed in MRI and abnormal neurodevelopment (sensitivity 75%, specificity 80%). There was no correlation between the abnormal development and the results of EEG recordings.Conclusion: Early cerebral MRI is justified in a selected premature population. It is useful for the diagnosis, the evaluation of the severity of brain injury and for the management of these children. The correlation with EEGs traces allows the detection of the majority of prematures babies that will develop sequels. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of nests on general movements (GM) and posture in very preterm infants at term age. Method: Seventeen high-risk preterm infants-less than 30 weeks of gestation (GA)-underwent a video recording, lying in supine position, with or without nest. Posture, GM quality, and movements made around the child's midline, as well as abrupt movements and frozen postures-in extension or flexion of the four limbs-were analyzed. Results: Nest did not modify quality of GM. Children significantly adopted a curled-up position. The nest system was associated with an increase in movements toward or across the midline, as well as reduction of the hyperextension posture and head rotation movements. Frozen postures in flexion or extension, as well as abrupt movements of the four limbs, were reduced but not significantly. Conclusions: Nest helps very preterm infants to adopt semi-flexed posture and facilitates movements across the midline and reduces movements of spine hyperextension, without GM global quality modifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: To describe the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of a cohort of children aged 6–10 years who were born preterm; and to determine whether sociodemographic factors, neonatal features and neurocognitive status were affecting their HRQL. Study design: All singleton infants born between 24 and 32 weeks of gestation between January 1997 and December 2001 at the study hospital, who were still alive in 2007 (age 6–10 years), and who had undergone complete clinical paediatric follow-up were included in the study. Maternal and perinatal data were obtained by chart review and regular clinical examination. The ‘Battery for Rapid Evaluation of Cognitive Functions’ (BREV) was used for cognitive evaluation when children were aged 4–8 years. HRQL data were collected in 2007 using the ‘Vécu et Santé Perçue de l’Adolescent et de l’Enfant’ (VSP-A) questionnaire (parent version). The HRQL of the preterm children was compared with that of a French reference population. Results: Of 202 children who fulfilled the inclusion criteria, 82 children participated in the study. Their mean age was 7.9 years [standard deviation (SD) 1.4], mean birth weight was 1130.0g (SD 361.4), 23 children were born before 28 weeks of gestation, 46 were female and 11 had major neurocognitive disorders. These data were not significantly different for the non-respondents (n =120). Parents of preterm children reported a significantly lower perception of HRQL of their child compared with parents of children in the reference population, as reflected by VSP-A global index scores and scores for the ‘body image’, ‘vitality’, ‘psychological well-being’ and ‘school performance’ dimensions. In multivariate analyses, three factors were found to be significantly associated with at least one dimension in the VSP-A scale in the preterm children: presence of major neurocognitive disorders, negatively correlated with ‘vitality’, ‘relationships with friends’, ‘physical well-being’ and ‘school performance’ dimensions; maternal parity, positively correlated with the ‘psychological well-being’ dimension; and socio-economic status of family, positively correlated with the ‘relationships with friends’ dimension. The maximum R 2 was 15%. Conclusion: In addition to neurocognitive disorders, other variables such as socio-economic status of the family have a significant impact on the HRQL of preterm children at 6–10 years of age. Given the low proportion of variability in HRQL explained by the models, there is a need to explore other factors (e.g. environmental). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: With increasing numbers of preterm infants surviving, the impact of preterm birth on later cognitive development presents a major interest. This study investigates the impact of preterm birth on later dorsal- and ventral-stream functioning. An atypical pattern of performance was found for preterm children relative to full-term controls, but in the dorsal-drawing task only. These findings suggest that the number of gestational weeks does affect dorsal-stream functioning, even after more than 6 years of favorable environmental conditions in healthy preterm children. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]