Research Article: Reduced Hippocampal Volumes in Children with History of Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy after Therapeutic Hypothermia
Abstract:
Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) remains a significant cause of disability despite treatment with therapeutic hypothermia (TH). Many survive with more subtle deficits that affect daily functioning and school performance. We have previously shown an early indication of hippocampal changes in infants with HIE despite TH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hippocampal volume via MRI and memory function at 5 years of age. A cohort of children followed from birth returned for a 5-year follow-up (n = 10 HIE treated with TH, n = 8 healthy controls). The children underwent brain MRI and neurodevelopmental testing to assess their brain volume, general development, and memory function. Children with HIE had smaller hippocampal volumes than the controls despite no differences in the total brain volume (p = 0.02). Children with HIE generally scored within the average range on developmental testing. Though there was no difference in the memory scores between these groups, there was a positive within-group correlation between the hippocampal volume and memory scores in children with HIE (sentence recall r = 0.66, p = 0.038). There was no relationship between newborn memory function and 5-year hippocampal size. Children with HIE treated with TH experienced significant and lasting changes to the hippocampus despite improvements in survival and severe disability. Future studies should target diminishing injury to the hippocampus to improve overall outcomes.
Introduction:
Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) after birth affects around 1–8/1000 live births [1]. The impact can be severe in infants with moderate or severe encephalopathy, with nearly half of infants impacted by death or moderate to severe disability [2,3]. Though therapeutic hypothermia (TH) has reduced the incidence of death and severe disability, there continues to be a high prevalence of subtle cognitive impairments in children without severe deficits or cerebral palsy [3,4,5]. Furthermore, it is now recognized…
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