Differentiation of Speech Delay and Global Developmental Delay in Children Using DTI Tractography-Based Connectome

Editor’s Choice

This study investigated whether diffusion tensor imaging tractography-based connectome can differentiate global developmental delay from speech delay in young children. Twelve children with pure speech delay, 14 children with global developmental delay, and 10 children with typical development underwent 3T DTI. Whole-brain connectome analysis was performed by using 116 cortical ROIs. Network metrics were measured at individual regions: strength, efficiency, cluster coefficient, and betweeness. Compared with typical development, global and local efficiency were significantly reduced in both global developmental delay and speech delay. Nodal strength of the cognitive network was reduced in global developmental delay, whereas the nodal strength of the language network was reduced in speech delay. This finding resulted in a high accuracy of >83% to discriminate global developmental delay from speech delay.

Abstract

ROIs showing significantly altered network metrics in the group comparison of TD > GD. In the 2D connectogram, the color of anatomic label scales the P value of group difference in the AAL template. Similarly, the color of each circle represents the P value of individual metrics. The 3D connectogram shows individual pair-wise pathways having significant group differences in nodal strength (ie, the greater radius of the sphere, the greater the group difference). In both 2D and 3D connectograms, block arrows indicate the hippocampal network whose nodal properties are significantly reduced in GD compared with TD.
ROIs showing significantly altered network metrics in the group comparison of TD > GD. In the 2D connectogram, the color of anatomic label scales the P value of group difference in the AAL template. Similarly, the color of each circle represents the P value of individual metrics. The 3D connectogram shows individual pair-wise pathways having significant group differences in nodal strength (ie, the greater radius of the sphere, the greater the group difference). In both 2D and 3D connectograms, block arrows indicate the hippocampal network whose nodal properties are significantly reduced in GD compared with TD.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Pure speech delay is a common developmental disorder which, according to some estimates, affects 5%–8% of the population. Speech delay may not only be an isolated condition but also can be part of a broader condition such as global developmental delay. The present study investigated whether diffusion tensor imaging tractography-based connectome can differentiate global developmental delay from speech delay in young children.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Twelve children with pure speech delay (39.1 ± 20.9 months of age, 9 boys), 14 children with global developmental delay (39.3 ± 18.2 months of age, 12 boys), and 10 children with typical development (38.5 ± 20.5 months of age, 7 boys) underwent 3T DTI. For each subject, whole-brain connectome analysis was performed by using 116 cortical ROIs. The following network metrics were measured at individual regions: strength (number of the shortest paths), efficiency (measures of global and local integration), cluster coefficient (a measure of local aggregation), and betweeness (a measure of centrality).

RESULTS

Compared with typical development, global and local efficiency were significantly reduced in both global developmental delay and speech delay (P < .0001). The nodal strength of the cognitive network is reduced in global developmental delay, whereas the nodal strength of the language network is reduced in speech delay. This finding resulted in a high accuracy of >83% ± 4% to discriminate global developmental delay from speech delay.

CONCLUSIONS

The network abnormalities identified in the present study may underlie the neurocognitive and behavioral consequences commonly identified in children with global developmental delay and speech delay. Further validation studies in larger samples are required.

 

Read this article: http://bit.ly/28L3HCg

Differentiation of Speech Delay and Global Developmental Delay in Children Using DTI Tractography-Based Connectome
Jeffrey Ross
Fatal error: Uncaught Error: Call to undefined function get_cimyFieldValue() in /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-content/themes/ample-child/author-bio.php:13 Stack trace: #0 /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-content/themes/ample-child/content-single.php(35): include() #1 /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-includes/template.php(812): require('/home2/ajnrblog...') #2 /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-includes/template.php(745): load_template('/home2/ajnrblog...', false, Array) #3 /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-includes/general-template.php(206): locate_template(Array, true, false, Array) #4 /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-content/themes/ample/single.php(21): get_template_part('content', 'single') #5 /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-includes/template-loader.php(106): include('/home2/ajnrblog...') #6 /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-blog-header.php(19): require_once('/home2/ajnrblog...') #7 /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/index.php(17): require('/home2/ajnrblog...') #8 {main} thrown in /home2/ajnrblog/public_html/wp-content/themes/ample-child/author-bio.php on line 13