Potential value of quantitative magnetic susceptibility mapping for the assessment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemic brain injury: A retrospective cohort study based on propensity score matching method.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to explore the iron contend of patients with neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (NHB) and its correlation with clinical indicators.

METHODS

A total of 34 patients with NHB and 15 subjects in healthy controls (HC) group were included and underwent laboratory examinations and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for QSM. The propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to perform 1:1 no-return matching of subjects in the NHB and HC groups, and then the correlation analysis of the susceptibility values of each brain region with the clinical parameter was explored again, as well as the factors influencing the susceptibility values of each brain region were probed by multivariate linear regression analyses. The area under the curve (AUC) for each brain region was obtained via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.

RESULTS

The susceptibility values of the left putamen and left globus pallidum in NHB group were significantly greater than those in the HC group after PSM. And the susceptibility values of the left putamen were significantly positively correlated with serum bilirubin concentrations after PSM. The multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the susceptibility values of the left putamen were influenced by age and serum bilirubin concentrations. According to the ROC curves, the susceptibility values of the left putamen and left globus pallidus has the ability to diagnose NHB.

CONCLUSION

This study revealed that the initial brain damage manifestation in NHB patients may be abnormal iron content in the left putamen and left globus pallidus.