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Published on: November 20, 2015
Spastic diplegia in preterm-born children: Executive function impairment and neuroanatomical correlates
Maria Chiara Di Lieto1, Paola Brovedani1, Chiara Pecini1
1Department of Developmental Neuroscience, IRCCS Stella Maris, Viale del Tirreno 331, 56128, Calambrone, Pisa, Italy.
Background:
The neuropsychological literature on preterm-born children with spastic diplegia due to periventricular leukomalacia is convergent in reporting deficits in non-verbal intelligence and in visuo-spatial abilities. Nevertheless, other cognitive functions have found to be impaired, but data are scant and not correlated with neuroimaging findings.
Aims:
This study analyzes the neuropsychological strengths and weaknesses in preterm-born children with spastic diplegia (pSD) and their relationships with neuroanatomical findings, investigated by a novel scale for MRI classification.
Methods And Procedures:
Nineteen children with pSD, mild to moderate upper limb impairment and Verbal IQ>80, and 38 normal controls were evaluated with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery (NEPSY-II), assessing Attention/Executive Functioning, Language, Memory, Sensorimotor, Social Perception and Visuospatial Processing domains. The MRIs were quantitatively scored for lesion severity.
Outcomes And Results:
The results showed that, beyond core visuo-spatial and sensory-motor deficits, impairments in attention and executive functions were present in more than half of the sample, particularly in children with damage to the anterior corpus callosum.
Conclusions And Implications:
The findings are discussed in terms of clinical and rehabilitative implications tailored for pSD subgroups diversified for neuropsychological and neuroanatomical characteristics.
