ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the clinical application value of susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) in neonatal hy-poxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Methods Thirty-six neonates with HIE were collected and scanned by GE 3.0 T supercon-ducting MR scanner. Routine axial T1WI, T2WI, FLAIR scan and axial SWI scan were conducted. SWI sequence was compared with conventional head MRI sequences in detection rate of distribution and quantity of intracranial hemorrhage. Meanwhile, the display condition of the dilated cerebral deep veins and cortical veins was observed on SWI image and the performance of HIE in different clinical classification on SWI was compared. Results A total of 97 intracranial hemorrhages were detected by SWI in 27 cases. Only 41, 27 and 51 hemorrhages were found by TIWI, T2WI and FLAIR sequences, respectively. SWI were significantly superior to T1WI, T2WI and FLAIR in displaying the size, scope and boundary definition of hemorrhage. A total of 50 dilated ce-rebral deep veins and cortical veins were detected by SWI in 22 cases which were not found by conventional head sequences. The detection rates of intracranial hemorrhage and intracranial hemorrhage in addition of dilated cerebral veins on SWI sequence were the lowest in mild HIE group, and highest in severe group. There was significant difference among the mild, medium and severe groups (P<0.05). Conclusions SWI sequence has higher sensitivity than conventional MRI sequence in detecting intracranial hemorrhage and dilated vein in HIE, and is useful for early diagnosis of HIE.