Corpus callosum atrophy in adolescents with antecedents of moderate perinatal asphyxia.

BACKGROUND The corpus callosum (CC) is a cerebral structure that reflects cognitive status in several neurological pathologies. Visual inspection of MRI has shown that hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy(HIE) causes callosal damage. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE To quantify the CC surface in a sample of patients with antecedents of HIE and a group of matched controls. RESEARCH DESIGN Comparisons of CC measures among control subjects, mild HIE patients and moderateHIE patients as well as correlates of CC surface and neuropsychological performance. METHODS Twenty-one adolescent patients with childhood antecedents of HIE were compared to 21 controls. ANALYZE software was used to semi-automatically measure the CC area. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS Patients with moderate HIE showed corpus callosum reduction. The isthmus and genus were the most affected regions. Corpus callosum size correlated with cognitive function. CONCLUSIONS Corpus callosum quantification provides new evidence of subtle residual deficits in subjects with HIE antecedents without apparent neurological sequelae.