Higher risk for long-term behavioral and emotional
sequelae, with attentional problems (with or without
hyperactivity) is now becoming one of the hallmarks of
extreme premature (EP) birth and birth after pregancy
conditions leading to poor intra uterine growth
restriction (IUGR) [1,2]. However, little is know so far
about the neurostructural basis of these complexe brain
functional abnormalities that seem to have their origins
in early critical periods of brain development. The
development of cortical axonal pathways happens in a
series of sequential events. The preterm phase (24-36
post conecptional weeks PCW) is known for being crucial
for growth of the thalamocortical fiber bundles as well
as for the development of long projectional, commisural
and projectional fibers [3]. Is it logical to expect,
thus, that being exposed to altered intrauterine
environment (altered nutrition) or to extrauterine
environment earlier that expected, lead to alterations in
the structural organization and, consequently, alter the
underlying white matter (WM) structure. Understanding
rate and variability of normal brain development, and
detect differences from typical development may offer
insight into the neurodevelopmental anomalies that can be
imaged at later stages. Due to its unique ability to
non-invasively visualize and quantify in vivo white
matter tracts in the brain, in this study we used
diffusion MRI (dMRI) tractography to derive brain graphs
[4,5,6]. This relatively simple way of modeling the brain
enable us to use graph theory to study topological
properties of brain graphs in order to study the effects
of EP and IUGR on childrens brain connectivity at age 6
years old.