White Matter Integrity Differences in Children Treated with Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: A Tract-Based Spatial Statistics Analysis

Motivation: The diagnosis of neurodevelopmental impairment in children treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as neonates heavily relies on neuropsychological assessments which are highly subjective and present challenges for early diagnosis and intervention. Goal(s): The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in white matter microstructure in 2-year old children treated with ECMO as neonates. Approach: We used a diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) based TBSS approach to analyse the whole brain. Results: Our findings indicate white matter changes in multiple brain regions among children treated with ECMO as neonates. Additionally, these brain regions correlated with results from neuropsychogical testings reported in literature. Impact: Analysing diffusion measures can help to detect early microstructural changes in the brain of children treated with ECMO as neonates making it a promising tool for focused screening to support therapeutic strategies or targeted training to mitigate neurodevelopmental deficits.