Clinical utility of corpus callosum measurements in head sonograms of preterm infants: a cohort study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical usefulness of measurement of corpus callosum (CC) size in head ultrasound (HUS) to predict short-term neurodevelopmental (ND) outcomes in preterm infants. We hypothesised that including CC measurements in routine HUS will be an additional tool for early identification of infants at risk of adverse short-term ND outcome, over and above the predictive power of perinatal morbidities. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and outpatient NICU follow-up clinic of an academic medical centre in New York City. PARTICIPANTS: 929 HUS of 502 infants with gestational age of 23–36 weeks in African-American infants were initially studied. Exclusion criteria included those who died, had gross abnormalities in HUS, infants with race other than African-American, infants with suboptimal quality of HUS, late preterm infants and infants who did not participate in ND follow-up. A total of 173 infants completed the study. INTERVENTIONS: CC size (length and thickness) was measured in a subset of 87 infants who had routine HUS between 23 and 29 weeks (0–6 postnatal weeks). Relevant clinical variables were collected from chart reviews. ND assessments were completed in outpatient follow-up clinics. A statistical model was developed to assess the clinical utility and possible predictive value of CC measurements for adverse short-term ND outcome, while adjusting for perinatal morbidities. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: CC size and ND status. RESULTS: Measurements of CC size did not add substantial predictive power to predict short-term ND outcome beyond the information provided by the presence of morbidities related to prematurity. CONCLUSIONS: No association was found between morbidities related to prematurity and short-term ND outcome and CC size in preterm infants. CC measurements in HUS early in life did not have an additional value in predicting short-term ND outcome, therefore did not seem to provide further clinical utility.