Systemic infection may negatively modulate the development of cerebral white matter and long-term outcome of neonates. We analyzed the growth of corpus callosum (using cranial ultrasonography) and neurodevelopment (Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Third Edition) in 101 very low-birth-weight newborns. We observed significantly reduced corpus callosum length at 3 months of corrected age (44.5 mm vs 47.7 mm, P = .004) and diminished corpus callosum growth (0.07 mm/d vs 0.08 mm/d, P = .028) in infants who experienced systemic infection. The subgroup exhibited inferior neurodevelopmental outcomes with predominant motor impairment. The results suggest that length and growth of corpus callosum might be affected by systemic inflammatory response in preterm newborns. The changes in corpus callosum can contribute to adverse neurodevelopment at 2 years of corrected age. Serial ultrasonographic measurements of the corpus callosum may be suitable to identify preterm infants with increased risk of neurodevelopmental impairment.

全身感染可能对脑白质的发育和新生儿的长期预后产生负向调节作用。我们分析了 101 名极低出生体重新生儿的胼胝体生长（使用颅超声检查）和神经发育（Bayley 婴儿发育量表，第三版）。我们观察到在矫正年龄 3 个月时胼胝体长度显着缩短（44.5 毫米对 47.7 毫米，P = .004）和胼胝体生长减少（0.07 毫米/天对 0.08 毫米/天，P= .028) 在经历全身感染的婴儿中。该亚组表现出较差的神经发育结果，主要是运动障碍。结果表明，胼胝体的长度和生长可能受到早产儿全身炎症反应的影响。胼胝体的变化可导致矫正年龄 2 岁时的不良神经发育。胼胝体的连续超声测量可能适用于识别神经发育障碍风险增加的早产儿。