Head circumference in infants undergoing Foker process for long-gap esophageal atresia repair: Call for attention

Abstract

Introduction: We extended our pilot study in infants following long-gap esophageal atresia (LGEA) repair to report head circumference, an easily obtainable indirect measure of brain size. Data are presented in the context of previously reported body weight and T2-weighted MRI measures of intracranial and brain volumes.

Methods: Clinical information and head circumference were obtained for term-born (n = 13) and premature (n = 13) infants following LGEA repair with Foker process, as well as healthy term-born controls (n = 20) <1-year corrected age who underwent non-sedated research MRI. General Linear Model univariate analysis with corrected age at scan as a covariate and Bonferroni adjusted p values assessed group differences.

Results: We report no difference in head circumference between the three groups. Such findings paralleled trends in body weight and total intracranial volume but not in brain volume as previously reported for the same pilot cohort.

Discussion: Results suggest uncompromised somatic and head growth after repair of LGEA. In contrast, a novel finding of discrepancy between head circumference (novel data) and brain size (previously published data) in the same cohort suggests that head circumference might not be the best indirect measure of brain size in selected group of patients.

Keywords: Brain; Development; Infancy; LGEA; MRI; Pediatric.