MR imaging of spastic diplegia. Comparative study between preterm and term infants.

Eighteen children (eleven preterm birth and seven term birth) with clinical evidence of spastic diplegia (SD) were studied to clarify the differences of the lesions between preterm and term SD on MR imaging. All with preterm birth showed similar abnormalities of the periventricular white matter represented by high intensity in T2-weighted imaging and low intensity in T1 imaging. It seemed that the lesions were periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) and dysmyelination pathologically and correlated well clinically with spastic diplegia. SD with term birth group showed various lesions, two brain anomalies (schizencephaly and corpocephaly), one PVL, four showed no lesions. We suggested that SD with preterm birth is not only a clinical but also a pathological entity.