Exploration of Cerebral Microvascular Development in Preterm Neonates Using Ultrafast Power Doppler Imaging

Preterm birth causes over 50% of neonatal deaths with high incidences ranging from 4% to 16% across countries. The short-term and long-term complications, especially the nervous system sequela, of preterm neonates brought a heavy burden to families and society. Timely clinical intervention is important to reduce poor outcome and prognoses. Cerebral microvascular development is associated with functional development. In this study, we explore the cerebral microvascular development by visualizing the cerebral microvessels of preterm and full-term neonates with different gestational ages (GAs) using ultrafast power Doppler imaging (uPDI) technique. Microvascular density is used as the evaluation index to quantitatively assess the cerebral microvessels. Statistical results on 83 preterm neonates and 13 full-term neonates suggest that the cerebral microvessels develop better with GA increases.