Regional cortical volumes, measured by structural magnetic resonance imaging scans, were compared in 25 eight-year-old preterm children and 39 term control children, in a study performed at Yale and Brown University Medical Schools, and reported from the Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT. Regional cortical volumes were significantly smaller in the preterm children, especially in sensorimotor areas, but also in premotor, midtemporal, parieto-occipital, and subgenual cortices. Preterm children had significantly larger occipital and temporal, ventricular horns, and smaller volumes of cerebellum, basal ganglia, amygdala, hippocampus, and corpus callosum. The lower volumes of sensorimotor and midtemporal cortices in preterms were correlated with impaired full-scale, verbal, and performance IQ scores. [1]

COMMENT. Regional cortical volumes measured at 8 years of age in preterm children are significantly smaller than in term controls, and abnormalities, especially in the volumes of sensorimotor and midtemporal cortices, are related to cognitive impairments.