Magnetic Resonance Image of Neonatal Acute Bilirubin Encephalopathy: A Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping Study

Motivation: Clinical diagnosis of neonatal acute bilirubin encephalopathy (ABE) based on the conventional MRI sequence has been limited by its difficulty in differentiating confounding image contrast changes associated with normal myelination. Goal(s): This study aims to assess the value of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) in detecting ABE and understanding its pathogenesis. Approach: All MRI scans were carried out on 3.0T MR scanner (Omega, United Imaging Health Care, Shanghai, China) with multi-parametric MR imaging with flexible design (MULTIPLEX) transverse axis sequence. Results: ABE caused significant magnetic susceptibility value changes in several brain regions which showed correlation with peak total serum bilirubin value. Impact: Our study demonstrated that the brain regions with altered magnetic susceptibility values might be related with ABE pathology, which might be valuable for further studies. And QSM might have the potential efficacy in the auxiliary diagnosis of ABE.