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Hall M, Suff N, Slator P, Rutherford M, Shennan A, Hutter J, Story L. Placental multimodal MRI prior to spontaneous preterm birth <32 weeks' gestation: An observational study. BJOG 2024. [PMID: 38956748 DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.17901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Revised: 05/22/2024] [Accepted: 06/20/2024] [Indexed: 07/04/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To utilise combined diffusion-relaxation MRI techniques to interrogate antenatal changes in the placenta prior to extreme preterm birth among both women with PPROM and membranes intact, and compare this to a control group who subsequently delivered at term. DESIGN Observational study. SETTING Tertiary Obstetric Unit, London, UK. POPULATION Cases: pregnant women who subsequently spontaneously delivered a singleton pregnancy prior to 32 weeks' gestation without any other obstetric complications. CONTROLS pregnant women who delivered an uncomplicated pregnancy at term. METHODS All women consented to an MRI examination. A combined diffusion-relaxation MRI of the placenta was undertaken and analysed using fractional anisotropy, a combined T2*-apparent diffusion coefficient model and a combined T2*-intravoxel incoherent motion model, in order to provide a detailed placental phenotype associated with preterm birth. Subgroup analyses based on whether women in the case group had PPROM or intact membranes at time of scan, and on latency to delivery were performed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Fractional anisotropy, apparent diffusion coefficients and T2* placental values, from two models including a combined T2*-IVIM model separating fast- and slow-flowing (perfusing and diffusing) compartments. RESULTS This study included 23 women who delivered preterm and 52 women who delivered at term. Placental T2* was lower in the T2*-apparent diffusion coefficient model (p < 0.001) and in the fast- and slow-flowing compartments (p = 0.001 and p < 0.001) of the T2*-IVIM model. This reached a higher level of significance in the preterm prelabour rupture of the membranes group than in the membranes intact group. There was a reduced perfusion fraction among the cases with impending delivery. CONCLUSIONS Placental diffusion-relaxation reveals significant changes in the placenta prior to preterm birth with greater effect noted in cases of preterm prelabour rupture of the membranes. Application of this technique may allow clinically valuable interrogation of histopathological changes before preterm birth. In turn, this could facilitate more accurate antenatal prediction of preterm chorioamnionitis and so aid decisions around the safest time of delivery. Furthermore, this technique provides a research tool to improve understanding of the pathological mechanisms associated with preterm birth in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Hall
- Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Natalie Suff
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Paddy Slator
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
- School of Computer Science and Informatics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Andrew Shennan
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
- Smart Imaging Lab, Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Lisa Story
- Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
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Avena-Zampieri CL, Dassios T, Milan A, Santos R, Kyriakopoulou V, Cromb D, Hall M, Egloff A, McGovern M, Uus A, Hutter J, Payette K, Rutherford M, Greenough A, Story L. Correlation of fetal lung area with MRI derived pulmonary volume. Early Hum Dev 2024; 194:106047. [PMID: 38851106 DOI: 10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2024] [Revised: 05/15/2024] [Accepted: 05/16/2024] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Neonatal chest-Xray (CXR)s are commonly performed as a first line investigation for the evaluation of respiratory complications. Although lung area derived from CXRs correlates well with functional assessments of the neonatal lung, it is not currently utilised in clinical practice, partly due to the lack of reference ranges for CXR-derived lung area in healthy neonates. Advanced MR techniques now enable direct evaluation of both fetal pulmonary volume and area. This study therefore aims to generate reference ranges for pulmonary volume and area in uncomplicated pregnancies, evaluate the correlation between prenatal pulmonary volume and area, as well as to assess the agreement between antenatal MRI-derived and neonatal CXR-derived pulmonary area in a cohort of fetuses that delivered shortly after the antenatal MRI investigation. METHODS Fetal MRI datasets were retrospectively analysed from uncomplicated term pregnancies and a preterm cohort that delivered within 72 h of the fetal MRI. All examinations included T2 weighted single-shot turbo spin echo images in multiple planes. In-house pipelines were applied to correct for fetal motion using deformable slice-to-volume reconstruction. An MRI-derived lung area was manually segmented from the average intensity projection (AIP) images generated. Postnatal lung area in the preterm cohort was measured from neonatal CXRs within 24 h of delivery. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to correlate MRI-derived lung volume and area. A two-way absolute agreement was performed between the MRI-derived AIP lung area and CXR-derived lung area. RESULTS Datasets from 180 controls and 10 preterm fetuses were suitable for analysis. Mean gestational age at MRI was 28.6 ± 4.2 weeks for controls and 28.7 ± 2.7 weeks for preterm neonates. MRI-derived lung area correlated strongly with lung volumes (p < 0.001). MRI-derived lung area had good agreement with the neonatal CXR-derived lung area in the preterm cohort [both lungs = 0.982]. CONCLUSION MRI-derived pulmonary area correlates well with absolute pulmonary volume and there is good correlation between MRI-derived pulmonary area and postnatal CXR-derived lung area when delivery occurs within a few days of the MRI examination. This may indicate that fetal MRI derived lung area may prove to be useful reference ranges for pulmonary areas derived from CXRs obtained in the perinatal period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla L Avena-Zampieri
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom; Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom.
| | - Theodore Dassios
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Anna Milan
- Neonatal Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
| | - Rui Santos
- Children's Radiology Department, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
| | - Vanessa Kyriakopoulou
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel Cromb
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Megan Hall
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom; Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Alexia Egloff
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Fetal Medicine Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew McGovern
- Neonatal Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
| | - Alena Uus
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Kelly Payette
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Anne Greenough
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom; Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Fetal Medicine Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
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Al Darwish FM, Coolen BF, van Kammen CM, Alles LK, de Vos J, Schiffelers RM, Lely TA, Strijkers GJ, Terstappen F. Assessment of feto-placental oxygenation and perfusion in a rat model of placental insufficiency using T2* mapping and 3D dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI. Placenta 2024; 151:19-25. [PMID: 38657321 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2024.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Placental insufficiency may lead to preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. There is no cure for placental insufficiency, emphasizing the need for monitoring fetal and placenta health. Current monitoring methods are limited, underscoring the necessity for imaging techniques to evaluate fetal-placental perfusion and oxygenation. This study aims to use MRI to evaluate placental oxygenation and perfusion in the reduced uterine perfusion pressure (RUPP) model of placental insufficiency. METHODS Pregnant rats were randomized to RUPP (n = 11) or sham surgery (n = 8) on gestational day 14. On gestational day 19, rats imaged using a 7T MRI scanner to assess oxygenation and perfusion using T2* mapping and 3D-DCE MRI sequences, respectively. The effect of the RUPP on the feto-placental units were analyzed from the MRI images. RESULTS RUPP surgery led to reduced oxygenation in the labyrinth (24.7 ± 1.8 ms vs. 28.0 ± 2.1 ms, P = 0.002) and junctional zone (7.0 ± 0.9 ms vs. 8.1 ± 1.1 ms, P = 0.04) of the placenta, as indicated by decreased T2* values. However, here were no significant differences in fetal organ oxygenation or placental perfusion between RUPP and sham animals. DISCUSSION The reduced placental oxygenation without a corresponding decrease in perfusion suggests an adaptive response to placental ischemia. While acute reduction in placental perfusion may cause placental hypoxia, persistence of this condition could indicate chronic placental insufficiency after ischemic reperfusion injury. Thus, placental oxygenation may be a more reliable biomarker for assessing fetal condition than perfusion in hypertensive disorders of pregnancies including preeclampsia and FGR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fatimah M Al Darwish
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105, AZ, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| | - Bram F Coolen
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105, AZ, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| | - Caren M van Kammen
- Department of Obstetrics, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584, EA, Utrecht, Netherlands; Department of CDL Research, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584, EA, Utrecht, Netherlands.
| | - Lindy K Alles
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105, AZ, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| | - Judith de Vos
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105, AZ, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| | - Raymond M Schiffelers
- Department of CDL Research, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584, EA, Utrecht, Netherlands.
| | - Titia A Lely
- Department of Obstetrics, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584, EA, Utrecht, Netherlands.
| | - Gustav J Strijkers
- Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, 1105, AZ, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
| | - Fieke Terstappen
- Department of Obstetrics, Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584, EA, Utrecht, Netherlands.
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Cromb D, Slator PJ, Hall M, Price A, Alexander DC, Counsell SJ, Hutter J. Advanced magnetic resonance imaging detects altered placental development in pregnancies affected by congenital heart disease. Sci Rep 2024; 14:12357. [PMID: 38811636 PMCID: PMC11136986 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-63087-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024] Open
Abstract
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital malformation and is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. The placenta is crucial for healthy fetal development and placental development is altered in pregnancy when the fetus has CHD. This study utilized advanced combined diffusion-relaxation MRI and a data-driven analysis technique to test the hypothesis that placental microstructure and perfusion are altered in CHD-affected pregnancies. 48 participants (36 controls, 12 CHD) underwent 67 MRI scans (50 control, 17 CHD). Significant differences in the weighting of two independent placental and uterine-wall tissue components were identified between the CHD and control groups (both pFDR < 0.001), with changes most evident after 30 weeks gestation. A significant trend over gestation in weighting for a third independent tissue component was also observed in the CHD cohort (R = 0.50, pFDR = 0.04), but not in controls. These findings add to existing evidence that placental development is altered in CHD. The results may reflect alterations in placental perfusion or the changes in fetal-placental flow, villous structure and maturation that occur in CHD. Further research is needed to validate and better understand these findings and to understand the relationship between placental development, CHD, and its neurodevelopmental implications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Cromb
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, SE1 7EH, UK
- Centre for Medical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Paddy J Slator
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
- School of Computer Science and Informatics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Megan Hall
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, SE1 7EH, UK
| | - Anthony Price
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, SE1 7EH, UK
- Centre for Medical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Daniel C Alexander
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Serena J Counsell
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, SE1 7EH, UK.
- Centre for Medical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, SE1 7EH, UK
- Centre for Medical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
- Smart Imaging Lab, Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
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Seiter D, Chen R, Ludwig KD, Zhu A, Shah D, Wieben O, Johnson KM. Velocity-selective arterial spin labeling perfusion measurements in 2nd trimester human placenta with varying BMI. Placenta 2024; 150:72-79. [PMID: 38615536 PMCID: PMC11065564 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2024.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2023] [Revised: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Proper placental development is crucial to fetal health but is challenging to functionally assess non-invasively and is thus poorly characterized in populations. Body mass index (BMI) has been linked with adverse outcomes, but the causative mechanism is uncertain. Velocity-selective arterial spin labeling (VS-ASL) MRI provides a method to non-invasively measure placental perfusion with robustness to confounding transit time delays. In this study, we report on the measurement of perfusion in the human placenta in early pregnancy using velocity-selective arterial spin labeling (VS-ASL) MRI, comparing non-obese and obese participants. METHODS Participants (N = 97) undergoing routine prenatal care were recruited and imaged with structural and VS-ASL perfusion MRI at 15 and 21 weeks gestation. Resulting perfusion images were analyzed with respect to obesity based on BMI, gestational age, and the presence of adverse outcomes. RESULTS At 15 weeks gestation BMI was not associated with placental perfusion or perfusion heterogeneity. However, at 21 weeks gestation BMI was associated with higher placental perfusion (p < 0.01) and a decrease in perfusion heterogeneity (p < 0.05). In alignment with past studies, perfusion values were also higher at 21 weeks compared to 15 weeks gestation. In a small cohort of participants with adverse outcomes, at 21 weeks lower perfusion was observed compared to participants with uncomplicated pregnancies. DISCUSSION These results suggest low placental perfusion in the early second trimester may not be the culpable factor driving associations of obesity with adverse outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Seiter
- Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Ruiming Chen
- Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Kai D Ludwig
- Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Ante Zhu
- Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Dinesh Shah
- Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Oliver Wieben
- Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States
| | - Kevin M Johnson
- Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Biomedical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States; Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, United States.
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Hall M, de Marvao A, Schweitzer R, Cromb D, Colford K, Jandu P, O’Regan DP, Ho A, Price A, Chappell LC, Rutherford MA, Story L, Lamata P, Hutter J. Preeclampsia Associated Differences in the Placenta, Fetal Brain, and Maternal Heart Can Be Demonstrated Antenatally: An Observational Cohort Study Using MRI. Hypertension 2024; 81:836-847. [PMID: 38314606 PMCID: PMC7615760 DOI: 10.1161/hypertensionaha.123.22442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Preeclampsia is a multiorgan disease of pregnancy that has short- and long-term implications for the woman and fetus, whose immediate impact is poorly understood. We present a novel multiorgan approach to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) investigation of preeclampsia, with the acquisition of maternal cardiac, placental, and fetal brain anatomic and functional imaging. METHODS An observational study was performed recruiting 3 groups of pregnant women: those with preeclampsia, chronic hypertension, or no medical complications. All women underwent a cardiac MRI, and pregnant women underwent a placental-fetal MRI. Cardiac analysis for structural, morphological, and flow data were undertaken; placenta and fetal brain volumetric and T2* (which describes relative tissue oxygenation) data were obtained. All results were corrected for gestational age. A nonpregnant cohort was identified for inclusion in the statistical shape analysis. RESULTS Seventy-eight MRIs were obtained during pregnancy. Cardiac MRI analysis demonstrated higher left ventricular mass in preeclampsia with 3-dimensional modeling revealing additional specific characteristics of eccentricity and outflow track remodeling. Pregnancies affected by preeclampsia demonstrated lower placental and fetal brain T2*. Within the preeclampsia group, 23% placental T2* results were consistent with controls, these were the only cases with normal placental histopathology. Fetal brain T2* results were consistent with normal controls in 31% of cases. CONCLUSIONS We present the first holistic assessment of the immediate implications of preeclampsia on maternal heart, placenta, and fetal brain. As well as having potential clinical implications for the risk stratification and management of women with preeclampsia, this gives an insight into the disease mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Hall
- Department of Women and Children’s Health (M.H., A.d.M., A.H., L.C.C., L.S.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
- Centre for the Developing Brain (M.H., D.C., K.C., A.H., A.P., M.A.R., L.S., J.H.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Antonio de Marvao
- Department of Women and Children’s Health (M.H., A.d.M., A.H., L.C.C., L.S.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
- School of Cardiovascular Medicine (A.d.M., R.S.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom (A.d.M., R.S., D.P.O.)
| | - Ronny Schweitzer
- School of Cardiovascular Medicine (A.d.M., R.S.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom (A.d.M., R.S., D.P.O.)
| | - Daniel Cromb
- Centre for the Developing Brain (M.H., D.C., K.C., A.H., A.P., M.A.R., L.S., J.H.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Kathleen Colford
- Centre for the Developing Brain (M.H., D.C., K.C., A.H., A.P., M.A.R., L.S., J.H.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Priya Jandu
- GKT School of Medical Education (P.J.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Declan P O’Regan
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London, United Kingdom (A.d.M., R.S., D.P.O.)
| | - Alison Ho
- Department of Women and Children’s Health (M.H., A.d.M., A.H., L.C.C., L.S.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
- Centre for the Developing Brain (M.H., D.C., K.C., A.H., A.P., M.A.R., L.S., J.H.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Anthony Price
- Centre for the Developing Brain (M.H., D.C., K.C., A.H., A.P., M.A.R., L.S., J.H.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Medical Engineering (A.P., P.L.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Lucy C. Chappell
- Department of Women and Children’s Health (M.H., A.d.M., A.H., L.C.C., L.S.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Mary A. Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain (M.H., D.C., K.C., A.H., A.P., M.A.R., L.S., J.H.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children’s Health (M.H., A.d.M., A.H., L.C.C., L.S.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
- Centre for the Developing Brain (M.H., D.C., K.C., A.H., A.P., M.A.R., L.S., J.H.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Pablo Lamata
- Centre for Medical Engineering (A.P., P.L.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain (M.H., D.C., K.C., A.H., A.P., M.A.R., L.S., J.H.), King’s College London, United Kingdom
- Smart Imaging Lab, Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Germany (J.H.)
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Rajagopalan V, Truong V, Wang S, Lopez J, Rosas V, Borzage M, Votava-Smith JK, Ponrartana S, Panigrahy A, Detterich J, Wood J. Non-invasive in-utero quantification of vascular reactivity in human placenta. ULTRASOUND IN OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ULTRASOUND IN OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY 2024; 63:481-488. [PMID: 37820067 DOI: 10.1002/uog.27512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Placental vascular reactivity (PlVR) indicates the ability of the placental vasculature to match blood supply to fetal demand. Many pregnancy disorders alter the characteristics of PlVR, resulting in suboptimal oxygen delivery, although current understanding is limited by the lack of non-invasive, repeatable methods to measure PlVR in utero. Our objective was to quantify PlVR by measuring the placental response to transient changes in maternal carbon dioxide (CO2) using blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We hypothesized that PlVR will increase with gestational age to meet the changing demands of a growing fetus, and that PlVR will be driven by a maternal response to changes in CO2 concentration. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study of 35 women with a healthy singleton pregnancy, of whom 31 were included in the analysis. The median gestational age was 32.6 (range, 22.6-38.4) weeks. Pregnant women were instructed to follow audiovisual breathing cues during a MRI scan. Maternal end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2) was measured concurrently with resting placental BOLD MRI for a total of 7-8 min. Preprocessing of magnetic resonance images consisted of manual delineation of placental anatomy and motion correction. In each placental voxel, vascular reactivity was computed using a coherence-weighted general linear model between MRI signal and EtCO2 stimulus. Global PlVR was computed as the mean of voxel-wise PlVR values across the placenta. RESULTS PlVR, quantified by the placental response to induced, transient changes in maternal CO2, was consistently measured in utero using BOLD MRI. PlVR increased non-linearly with advancing gestational age (P < 0.001) and was higher on the fetal side of the placenta. PlVR was associated positively with fetal brain volume after accounting for gestational age. PlVR did not show any significant associations with maternal characteristics. CONCLUSIONS We present, for the first time, a non-invasive paradigm to quantify PlVR in ongoing human pregnancies without the use of exogenous gases or contrast agents. Our findings suggest that PlVR is driven by a fetal response to changes in maternal CO2. Ease of translation to the clinical setting makes PlVR a promising biomarker for the identification and management of high-risk pregnancies. © 2023 The Authors. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Rajagopalan
- Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - V Truong
- University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - S Wang
- Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - J Lopez
- Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - V Rosas
- Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - M Borzage
- Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - J K Votava-Smith
- Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - S Ponrartana
- University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - A Panigrahy
- Pediatric Imaging Research Lab, Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - J Detterich
- Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - J Wood
- Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Maiuro A, Ercolani G, Di Stadio F, Antonelli A, Catalano C, Manganaro L, Capuani S. Two-Compartment Perfusion MR IVIM Model to Investigate Normal and Pathological Placental Tissue. J Magn Reson Imaging 2024; 59:879-891. [PMID: 37329218 DOI: 10.1002/jmri.28858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Perfusion and diffusion coexist in the placenta and can be altered by pathologies. The two-perfusion model, where f1 and, f2 are the perfusion-fraction of the fastest and slowest perfusion compartment, respectively, and D is the diffusion coefficient, may help differentiate between normal and impaired placentas. PURPOSE Investigate the potential of the two-perfusion IVIM model in differentiating between normal and abnormal placentas. STUDY-TYPE Retrospective, case-control. POPULATION 43 normal pregnancy, 9 fetal-growth-restriction (FGR), 6 small-for-gestational-age (SGA), 4 accreta, 1 increta and 2 percreta placentas. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE Diffusion-weighted-echo planar imaging sequence at 1.5 T. ASSESSMENT Voxel-wise signal-correction and fitting-controls were used to avoid overfitting obtaining that two-perfusion model fitted the observed data better than the IVIM model (Akaike weight: 0.94). The two-perfusion parametric-maps were quantified from ROIs in the fetal and maternal placenta and in the accretion zone of accreta placentas. The diffusion coefficient D was evaluated using a b ≥ 200 sec/mm2 -mono-exponential decay fit. IVIM metrics were quantified to fix f1 + f2 = fIVIM . STATISTICAL-TESTS ANOVA with Dunn-Sidák's post-hoc correction and Cohen's d test were used to compare parameters between groups. Spearman's coefficient was evaluated to study the correlation between variables. A P-value<0.05 indicated a statistically significant difference. RESULTS There was a significant difference in f1 between FGR and SGA, and significant differences in f2 and fIVIM between normal and FGR. The percreta + increta group showed the highest f1 values (Cohen's d = -2.66). The f2 between normal and percreta + increta groups showed Cohen's d = 1.12. Conversely, fIVIM had a small effective size (Cohen's d = 0.32). In the accretion zone, a significant correlation was found between f2 and GA (ρ = 0.90) whereas a significant negative correlation was found between fIVIM and D (ρ = -0.37 in fetal and ρ = -0.56 in maternal side) and f2 and D (ρ = -0.38 in fetal and ρ = -0.51 in maternal side) in normal placentas. CONCLUSION The two-perfusion model provides complementary information to IVIM parameters that may be useful in identifying placenta impairment. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2 TECHNICAL EFFICACY STAGE: 1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Maiuro
- Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- Physics Department Rome, CNR ISC Roma Sapienza, Rome, Italy
| | - Giada Ercolani
- Department of Radiological, Oncological and Pathological Sciences, Umberto I Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Amanda Antonelli
- Department of Radiological, Oncological and Pathological Sciences, Umberto I Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Carlo Catalano
- Department of Radiological, Oncological and Pathological Sciences, Umberto I Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Lucia Manganaro
- Department of Radiological, Oncological and Pathological Sciences, Umberto I Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Silvia Capuani
- Physics Department Rome, CNR ISC Roma Sapienza, Rome, Italy
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9
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O'Brien KA, Gu W, Houck JA, Holzner LMW, Yung HW, Armstrong JL, Sowton AP, Baxter R, Darwin PM, Toledo-Jaldin L, Lazo-Vega L, Moreno-Aramayo AE, Miranda-Garrido V, Shortt JA, Matarazzo CJ, Yasini H, Burton GJ, Moore LG, Simonson TS, Murray AJ, Julian CG. Genomic Selection Signals in Andean Highlanders Reveal Adaptive Placental Metabolic Phenotypes That Are Disrupted in Preeclampsia. Hypertension 2024; 81:319-329. [PMID: 38018457 PMCID: PMC10841680 DOI: 10.1161/hypertensionaha.123.21748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/30/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The chronic hypoxia of high-altitude residence poses challenges for tissue oxygen supply and metabolism. Exposure to high altitude during pregnancy increases the incidence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and fetal growth restriction and alters placental metabolism. High-altitude ancestry protects against altitude-associated fetal growth restriction, indicating hypoxia tolerance that is genetic in nature. Yet, not all babies are protected and placental pathologies associated with fetal growth restriction occur in some Andean highlanders. METHODS We examined placental metabolic function in 79 Andeans (18-45 years; 39 preeclamptic and 40 normotensive) living in La Paz, Bolivia (3600-4100 m) delivered by unlabored Cesarean section. Using a selection-nominated approach, we examined links between putatively adaptive genetic variation and phenotypes related to oxygen delivery or placental metabolism. RESULTS Mitochondrial oxidative capacity was associated with fetal oxygen delivery in normotensive but not preeclamptic placenta and was also suppressed in term preeclamptic pregnancy. Maternal haplotypes in or within 200 kb of selection-nominated genes were associated with lower placental mitochondrial respiratory capacity (PTPRD [protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor-δ]), lower maternal plasma erythropoietin (CPT2 [carnitine palmitoyl transferase 2], proopiomelanocortin, and DNMT3 [DNA methyltransferase 3]), and lower VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) in umbilical venous plasma (TBX5 [T-box transcription factor 5]). A fetal haplotype within 200 kb of CPT2 was associated with increased placental mitochondrial complex II capacity, placental nitrotyrosine, and GLUT4 (glucose transporter type 4) protein expression. CONCLUSIONS Our findings reveal novel associations between putatively adaptive gene regions and phenotypes linked to oxygen delivery and placental metabolic function in highland Andeans, suggesting that such effects may be of genetic origin. Our findings also demonstrate maladaptive metabolic mechanisms in the context of preeclampsia, including dysregulation of placental oxygen consumption.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katie A O'Brien
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine (K.A.O., W.G., T.S.S.), University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
- Department of Biomedical Informatics (K.A.O., J.A.H., J.A.S., C.J.M., H.Y., C.G.J.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
| | - Wanjun Gu
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine (K.A.O., W.G., T.S.S.), University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
- Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Longevity Sciences (W.G.), University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
| | - Julie A Houck
- Department of Biomedical Informatics (K.A.O., J.A.H., J.A.S., C.J.M., H.Y., C.G.J.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Sciences (J.A.H., L.G.M.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
| | - Lorenz M W Holzner
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
| | - Hong Wa Yung
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
| | - Jenna L Armstrong
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
| | - Alice P Sowton
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
| | - Ruby Baxter
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
| | - Paula M Darwin
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
| | - Lilian Toledo-Jaldin
- Department of Obstetrics, Hospital Materno-Infantil, La Paz, Bolivia (L.T.-J., L.L.-V., A.E.M.-M., V.M.-G.)
| | - Litzi Lazo-Vega
- Department of Obstetrics, Hospital Materno-Infantil, La Paz, Bolivia (L.T.-J., L.L.-V., A.E.M.-M., V.M.-G.)
| | - Any Elena Moreno-Aramayo
- Department of Obstetrics, Hospital Materno-Infantil, La Paz, Bolivia (L.T.-J., L.L.-V., A.E.M.-M., V.M.-G.)
| | - Valquiria Miranda-Garrido
- Department of Obstetrics, Hospital Materno-Infantil, La Paz, Bolivia (L.T.-J., L.L.-V., A.E.M.-M., V.M.-G.)
| | - Jonathan A Shortt
- Department of Biomedical Informatics (K.A.O., J.A.H., J.A.S., C.J.M., H.Y., C.G.J.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
| | - Christopher J Matarazzo
- Department of Biomedical Informatics (K.A.O., J.A.H., J.A.S., C.J.M., H.Y., C.G.J.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
| | - Hussna Yasini
- Department of Biomedical Informatics (K.A.O., J.A.H., J.A.S., C.J.M., H.Y., C.G.J.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
| | - Graham J Burton
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
| | - Lorna G Moore
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Sciences (J.A.H., L.G.M.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
| | - Tatum S Simonson
- Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine (K.A.O., W.G., T.S.S.), University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
| | - Andrew J Murray
- Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (K.A.O., L.M.W.H., H.W.Y., J.L.A., A.P.S., R.B., P.M.D., G.J.B., A.J.M.)
| | - Colleen G Julian
- Department of Biomedical Informatics (K.A.O., J.A.H., J.A.S., C.J.M., H.Y., C.G.J.), University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
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10
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Avena-Zampieri CL, Hutter J, Uus A, Deprez M, Payette K, Hall M, Bafadhel M, Russell REK, Milan A, Rutherford M, Shennan A, Greenough A, Story L. Functional MRI assessment of the lungs in fetuses that deliver very Preterm: An MRI pilot study. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 2024; 293:106-114. [PMID: 38141484 PMCID: PMC10929943 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2023.12.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 12/11/2023] [Indexed: 12/25/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES To compare mean pulmonary T2* values and pulmonary volumes in fetuses that subsequently spontaneously delivered before 32 weeks with a control cohort with comparable gestational ages and to assess the value of mean pulmonary T2* as a predictor of preterm birth < 32 weeks' gestation. METHODS MRI datasets scanned at similar gestational ages were selected from fetuses who spontaneously delivered < 32 weeks of gestation and a control group who subsequently delivered at term with no complications. All women underwent a fetal MRI on a 3 T MRI imaging system. Sequences included T2-weighted single shot fast spin echo and T2* sequences, using gradient echo single shot echo planar sequencing of the fetal thorax. Motion correction was performed using slice-to-volume reconstruction and T2* maps generated using in-house pipelines. Lungs were manually segmented and volumes and mean T2* values calculated for both lungs combined and left and right lung separately. Linear regression was used to compare values between the preterm and control cohorts accounting for the effects of gestation. Receiver operating curves were generated for mean T2* values and pulmonary volume as predictors of preterm birth < 32 weeks' gestation. RESULTS Datasets from twenty-eight preterm and 74 control fetuses were suitable for analysis. MRI images were taken at similar fetal gestational ages (preterm cohort (mean ± SD) 24.9 ± 3.3 and control cohort (mean ± SD) 26.5 ± 3.0). Mean gestational age at delivery was 26.4 ± 3.3 for the preterm group and 39.9 ± 1.3 for the control group. Mean pulmonary T2* values remained constant with increasing gestational age while pulmonary volumes increased. Both T2* and pulmonary volumes were lower in the preterm group than in the control group for all parameters (both combined, left, and right lung (p < 0.001 in all cases). Adjusted for gestational age, pulmonary volumes and mean T2* values were good predictors of premature delivery in fetuses < 32 weeks (area under the curve of 0.828 and 0.754 respectively). CONCLUSION These findings indicate that mean pulmonary T2* values and volumes were lower in fetuses that subsequently delivered very preterm. This may suggest potentially altered oxygenation and indicate that pulmonary morbidity associated with prematurity has an antenatal antecedent. Future work should explore these results correlating antenatal findings with long term pulmonary outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla L Avena-Zampieri
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom; Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom.
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Alena Uus
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Maria Deprez
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Kelly Payette
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Megan Hall
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom; Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Fetal Medicine Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
| | - Mona Bafadhel
- King's Centre for Lung Health, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Richard E K Russell
- King's Centre for Lung Health, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Anna Milan
- Neonatal Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew Shennan
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Anne Greenough
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children's Health King's College London, United Kingdom; Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, United Kingdom; Fetal Medicine Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
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11
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Cromb D, Slator P, Hall M, Price A, Alexander D, Counsell S, Hutter J. Advanced magnetic resonance imaging detects altered placental development in pregnancies affected by congenital heart disease. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-3873412. [PMID: 38343847 PMCID: PMC10854304 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3873412/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital malformation and is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. The placenta is crucial for healthy fetal development and placental development is altered in pregnancy when the fetus has CHD. This study utilized advanced combined diffusion-relaxation MRI and a data-driven analysis technique to test the hypothesis that placental microstructure and perfusion are altered in CHD-affected pregnancies. 48 participants (36 controls, 12 CHD) underwent 67 MRI scans (50 control, 17 CHD). Significant differences in the weighting of two independent placental and uterine-wall tissue components were identified between the CHD and control groups (both pFDR<0.001), with changes most evident after 30 weeks gestation. A Significant trend over gestation in weighting for a third independent tissue component was also observed in the CHD cohort (R = 0.50, pFDR=0.04), but not in controls. These findings add to existing evidence that placental development is altered in CHD. The results may reflect alterations in placental perfusion or the changes in fetal-placental flow, villous structure and maturation that occur in CHD. Further research is needed to validate and better understand these findings and to understand the relationship between placental development, CHD, and its neurodevelopmental implications.
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12
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Slator PJ, Cromb D, Jackson LH, Ho A, Counsell SJ, Story L, Chappell LC, Rutherford M, Hajnal JV, Hutter J, Alexander DC. Non-invasive mapping of human placenta microenvironments throughout pregnancy with diffusion-relaxation MRI. Placenta 2023; 144:29-37. [PMID: 37952367 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2023.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2023] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/14/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION In-vivo measurements of placental structure and function have the potential to improve prediction, diagnosis, and treatment planning for a wide range of pregnancy complications, such as fetal growth restriction and pre-eclampsia, and hence inform clinical decision making, ultimately improving patient outcomes. MRI is emerging as a technique with increased sensitivity to placental structure and function compared to the current clinical standard, ultrasound. METHODS We demonstrate and evaluate a combined diffusion-relaxation MRI acquisition and analysis pipeline on a sizable cohort of 78 normal pregnancies with gestational ages ranging from 15 + 5 to 38 + 4 weeks. Our acquisition comprises a combined T2*-diffusion MRI acquisition sequence - which is simultaneously sensitive to oxygenation, microstructure and microcirculation. We analyse our scans with a data-driven unsupervised machine learning technique, InSpect, that parsimoniously identifies distinct components in the data. RESULTS We identify and map seven potential placental microenvironments and reveal detailed insights into multiple microstructural and microcirculatory features of the placenta, and assess their trends across gestation. DISCUSSION By demonstrating direct observation of micro-scale placental structure and function, and revealing clear trends across pregnancy, our work contributes towards the development of robust imaging biomarkers for pregnancy complications and the ultimate goal of a normative model of placental development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paddy J Slator
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ, UK; School of Computer Science and Informatics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK; Centre for Medical Image Computing and Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Daniel Cromb
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Laurence H Jackson
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK; Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Alison Ho
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Serena J Counsell
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Lucy C Chappell
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK; Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK; Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Daniel C Alexander
- Centre for Medical Image Computing and Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
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13
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Herrera CL, Kim MJ, Do QN, Owen DM, Fei B, Twickler DM, Spong CY. The human placenta project: Funded studies, imaging technologies, and future directions. Placenta 2023; 142:27-35. [PMID: 37634371 PMCID: PMC11257151 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2023.08.067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 08/16/2023] [Accepted: 08/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
The placenta plays a critical role in fetal development. It serves as a multi-functional organ that protects and nurtures the fetus during pregnancy. However, despite its importance, the intricacies of placental structure and function in normal and diseased states have remained largely unexplored. Thus, in 2014, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development launched the Human Placenta Project (HPP). As of May 2023, the HPP has awarded over $101 million in research funds, resulting in 41 funded studies and 459 publications. We conducted a comprehensive review of these studies and publications to identify areas of funded research, advances in those areas, limitations of current research, and continued areas of need. This paper will specifically review the funded studies by the HPP, followed by an in-depth discussion on advances and gaps within placental-focused imaging. We highlight the progress within magnetic reasonance imaging and ultrasound, including development of tools for the assessment of placental function and structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina L Herrera
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Parkland Health Dallas, Texas, USA; Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA.
| | - Meredith J Kim
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Quyen N Do
- Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - David M Owen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Parkland Health Dallas, Texas, USA; Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Baowei Fei
- Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Diane M Twickler
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Parkland Health Dallas, Texas, USA; Department of Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Catherine Y Spong
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Parkland Health Dallas, Texas, USA
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14
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Aviles Verdera J, Story L, Hall M, Finck T, Egloff A, Seed PT, Malik SJ, Rutherford MA, Hajnal JV, Tomi-Tricot R, Hutter J. Reliability and Feasibility of Low-Field-Strength Fetal MRI at 0.55 T during Pregnancy. Radiology 2023; 309:e223050. [PMID: 37847139 PMCID: PMC10623193 DOI: 10.1148/radiol.223050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 08/20/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
Background The benefits of using low-field-strength fetal MRI to evaluate antenatal development include reduced image artifacts, increased comfort, larger bore size, and potentially reduced costs, but studies about fetal low-field-strength MRI are lacking. Purpose To evaluate the reliability and feasibility of low-field-strength fetal MRI to assess anatomic and functional measures in pregnant participants using a commercially available 0.55-T MRI scanner and a comprehensive 20-minute protocol. Materials and Methods This prospective study was performed at a large teaching hospital (St Thomas' Hospital; London, England) from May to November 2022 in healthy pregnant participants and participants with pregnancy-related abnormalities using a commercially available 0.55-T MRI scanner. A 20-minute protocol was acquired including anatomic T2-weighted fast-spin-echo, quantitative T2*, and diffusion sequences. Key measures like biparietal diameter, transcerebellar diameter, lung volume, and cervical length were evaluated by two radiologists and an MRI-experienced obstetrician. Functional organ-specific mean values were given. Comparison was performed with existing published values and higher-field MRI using linear regression, interobserver correlation, and Bland-Altman plots. Results A total of 79 fetal MRI examinations were performed (mean gestational age, 29.4 weeks ± 5.5 [SD] [age range, 17.6-39.3 weeks]; maternal age, 34.4 years ± 5.3 [age range, 18.4-45.5 years]) in 47 healthy pregnant participants (control participants) and in 32 participants with pregnancy-related abnormalities. The key anatomic two-dimensional measures for the 47 healthy participants agreed with large cross-sectional 1.5-T and 3-T control studies. The interobserver correlations for the biparietal diameter in the first 40 consecutive scans were 0.96 (95% CI: 0.7, 0.99; P = .002) for abnormalities and 0.93 (95% CI: 0.86, 0.97; P < .001) for control participants. Functional features, including placental and brain T2* and placental apparent diffusion coefficient values, strongly correlated with gestational age (mean placental T2* in the control participants: 5.2 msec of decay per week; R2 = 0.66; mean T2* at 30 weeks, 176.6 msec; P < .001). Conclusion The 20-minute low-field-strength fetal MRI examination protocol was capable of producing reliable structural and functional measures of the fetus and placenta in pregnancy. Clinical trial registration no. REC 21/LO/0742 © RSNA, 2023 Supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Gowland in this issue.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jordina Aviles Verdera
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Lisa Story
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Megan Hall
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Tom Finck
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Alexia Egloff
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Paul T. Seed
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Shaihan J. Malik
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Mary A. Rutherford
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Joseph V. Hajnal
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Raphaël Tomi-Tricot
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
| | - Jana Hutter
- From the Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical
Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, 1st Floor
South Wing, St Thomas’ Hospital, Westminster Bridge Road SE1 7EH London,
United Kingdom (J.A.V., L.S., M.H., P.T.S., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H, J.H.); Centre
for Medical Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering
and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK (J.A.V., L.S.,
A.E., S.J.M., M.A.R., J.V.H., J.H.); Women's Health, GSTT, London, UK
(L.S., M.H., T.F., P.T.S.); Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany (T.F.);
MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK (R.T.T.);
and Radiological Institute, University Hospital Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany
(J.H.)
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15
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Aertsen M, Melbourne A, Couck I, King E, Ourselin S, De Keyzer F, Dymarkowski S, Deprest J, Lewi L. Placental differences between uncomplicated and complicated monochorionic diamniotic pregnancies on diffusion and multicompartment Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Placenta 2023; 142:106-114. [PMID: 37683336 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2023.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2023] [Revised: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) and selective fetal growth restriction (sFGR) are common complications in monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) pregnancies. The Diffusion-rElaxation Combined Imaging for Detailed Placental Evaluation (DECIDE) model, a placental-specific model, separates the T2 values of the fetal and maternal blood from the background tissue and estimates the fetal blood oxygen saturation. This study investigates diffusion and relaxation differences in uncomplicated MCDA pregnancies and MCDA pregnancies complicated by TTTS and sFGR in mid-pregnancy. METHODS This prospective monocentric cohort study included uncomplicated MCDA pregnancies and pregnancies complicated by TTTS and sFGR. We performed MRI with conventional diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and combined relaxometry - DWI-intravoxel incoherent motion. DECIDE analysis was used to quantify different parameters within the placenta related to the fetal, placental, and maternal compartments. RESULTS We included 99 pregnancies, of which 46 were uncomplicated, 12 were complicated by sFGR and 41 by TTTS. Conventional DWI did not find differences between or within cohorts. On DECIDE imaging, fetoplacental oxygen saturation was significantly lower in the smaller member of sFGR (p = 0.07) and in both members of TTTS (p = 0.01 and p = 0.004) compared to the uncomplicated pairs. Additionally, average T2 relaxation time was significantly lower in the smaller twin of the sFGR (p = 0.004) compared to the uncomplicated twins (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION Multicompartment functional MRI showed significant differences in several MRI parameters between the placenta of uncomplicated MCDA pregnancies and those complicated by sFGR and TTTS in mid-pregnancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Aertsen
- Department of Radiology, University Hospitals KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
| | - A Melbourne
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, UK; Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, UK
| | - I Couck
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - E King
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, UK
| | - S Ourselin
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, UK; Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, UK
| | - F De Keyzer
- Department of Radiology, University Hospitals KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - S Dymarkowski
- Department of Radiology, University Hospitals KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - J Deprest
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Development and Regeneration, Cluster Woman and Child, Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, Perinatal Imaging and Health, King's College London, King's Health Partners, St.Thomas' Hospital, 1st Floor South Wing, London, SE1 7EH, UK
| | - L Lewi
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Development and Regeneration, Cluster Woman and Child, Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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16
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Payette K, Uus A, Verdera JA, Zampieri CA, Hall M, Story L, Deprez M, Rutherford MA, Hajnal JV, Ourselin S, Tomi-Tricot R, Hutter J. An automated pipeline for quantitative T2* fetal body MRI and segmentation at low field. ARXIV 2023:arXiv:2308.04903v1. [PMID: 37608939 PMCID: PMC10441444] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/24/2023]
Abstract
Fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging at low field strengths is emerging as an exciting direction in perinatal health. Clinical low field (0.55T) scanners are beneficial for fetal imaging due to their reduced susceptibility-induced artefacts, increased T2* values, and wider bore (widening access for the increasingly obese pregnant population). However, the lack of standard automated image processing tools such as segmentation and reconstruction hampers wider clinical use. In this study, we introduce a semi-automatic pipeline using quantitative MRI for the fetal body at low field strength resulting in fast and detailed quantitative T2* relaxometry analysis of all major fetal body organs. Multi-echo dynamic sequences of the fetal body were acquired and reconstructed into a single high-resolution volume using deformable slice-to-volume reconstruction, generating both structural and quantitative T2* 3D volumes. A neural network trained using a semi-supervised approach was created to automatically segment these fetal body 3D volumes into ten different organs (resulting in dice values > 0.74 for 8 out of 10 organs). The T2* values revealed a strong relationship with GA in the lungs, liver, and kidney parenchyma (R2 >0.5). This pipeline was used successfully for a wide range of GAs (17-40 weeks), and is robust to motion artefacts. Low field fetal MRI can be used to perform advanced MRI analysis, and is a viable option for clinical scanning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kelly Payette
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Alena Uus
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Jordina Aviles Verdera
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Carla Avena Zampieri
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Megan Hall
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Women & Children’s Health, King’s College London, London, UK: MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, UK
| | - Lisa Story
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Maria Deprez
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Mary A. Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Joseph V. Hajnal
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Sebastien Ourselin
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Raphael Tomi-Tricot
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
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17
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Clark A, Flouri D, Mufti N, James J, Clements E, Aughwane R, Aertsen M, David A, Melbourne A. Developments in functional imaging of the placenta. Br J Radiol 2023; 96:20211010. [PMID: 35234516 PMCID: PMC10321248 DOI: 10.1259/bjr.20211010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2021] [Revised: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The placenta is both the literal and metaphorical black box of pregnancy. Measurement of the function of the placenta has the potential to enhance our understanding of this enigmatic organ and serve to support obstetric decision making. Advanced imaging techniques are key to support these measurements. This review summarises emerging imaging technology being used to measure the function of the placenta and new developments in the computational analysis of these data. We address three important examples where functional imaging is supporting our understanding of these conditions: fetal growth restriction, placenta accreta, and twin-twin transfusion syndrome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alys Clark
- Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | | | | | - Joanna James
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Eleanor Clements
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, UK
| | - Rosalind Aughwane
- Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women’s Health, University College London, London, UK
| | - Michael Aertsen
- Department of Radiology, University Hospitals KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Anna David
- Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women’s Health, University College London, London, UK
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18
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Slator PJ, Verdera JA, Tomi-Tricot R, Hajnal JV, Alexander DC, Hutter J. Low-Field Combined Diffusion-Relaxation MRI for Mapping Placenta Structure and Function. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.06.06.23290983. [PMID: 37333076 PMCID: PMC10274995 DOI: 10.1101/2023.06.06.23290983] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Demonstrating quantitative multi-parametric mapping in the placenta with combined T 2 ∗ -diffusion MRI at low-field (0.55T). Methods We present 57 placental MRI scans performed on a commercially available 0.55T scanner. We acquired the images using a combined T 2 ∗ -diffusion technique scan that simultaneously acquires multiple diffusion preparations and echo times. We processed the data to produce quantitative T 2 ∗ and diffusivity maps using a combined T 2 ∗ -ADC model. We compared the derived quantitative parameters across gestation in healthy controls and a cohort of clinical cases. Results Quantitative parameter maps closely resemble those from previous experiments at higher field strength, with similar trends in T 2 ∗ and ADC against gestational age observed. Conclusion Combined T 2 ∗ -diffusion placental MRI is reliably achievable at 0.55T. The advantages of lower field strength - such as cost, ease of deployment, increased accessibility and patient comfort due to the wider bore, and increased T 2 ∗ for larger dynamic ranges - can support the widespread roll out of placental MRI as an adjunct to ultrasound during pregnancy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paddy J Slator
- Centre for Medical Image Computing and Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
- School of Computer Science and Informatics, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
| | - Jordina Aviles Verdera
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Raphael Tomi-Tricot
- MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Camberley, United Kingdom
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel C Alexander
- Centre for Medical Image Computing and Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
- Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
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19
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Avena-Zampieri CL, Hutter J, Deprez M, Payette K, Hall M, Uus A, Nanda S, Milan A, Seed PT, Rutherford M, Greenough A, Story L. Assessment of normal pulmonary development using functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques. Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM 2023; 5:100935. [PMID: 36933803 PMCID: PMC10711505 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2023.100935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Revised: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The mainstay of assessment of the fetal lungs in clinical practice is via evaluation of pulmonary size, primarily using 2D ultrasound and more recently with anatomical magnetic resonance imaging. The emergence of advanced magnetic resonance techniques such as T2* relaxometry in combination with the latest motion correction post-processing tools now facilitates assessment of the metabolic activity or perfusion of fetal pulmonary tissue in vivo. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to characterize normal pulmonary development using T2* relaxometry, accounting for fetal motion across gestation. METHODS Datasets from women with uncomplicated pregnancies that delivered at term, were analyzed. All subjects had undergone T2-weighted imaging and T2* relaxometry on a Phillips 3T magnetic resonance imaging system antenatally. T2* relaxometry of the fetal thorax was performed using a gradient echo single-shot echo planar imaging sequence. Following correction for fetal motion using slice-to-volume reconstruction, T2* maps were generated using in-house pipelines. Lungs were manually segmented and mean T2* values calculated for the right and left lungs individually, and for both lungs combined. Lung volumes were generated from the segmented images, and the right and left lungs, as well as both lungs combined were assessed. RESULTS Eighty-seven datasets were suitable for analysis. The mean gestation at scan was 29.9±4.3 weeks (range: 20.6-38.3) and mean gestation at delivery was 40±1.2 weeks (range: 37.1-42.4). Mean T2* values of the lungs increased over gestation for right and left lungs individually and for both lungs assessed together (P=.003; P=.04; P=.003, respectively). Right, left, and total lung volumes were also strongly correlated with increasing gestational age (P<.001 in all cases). CONCLUSION This large study assessed developing lungs using T2* imaging across a wide gestational age range. Mean T2* values increased with gestational age, which may reflect increasing perfusion and metabolic requirements and alterations in tissue composition as gestation advances. In the future, evaluation of findings in fetuses with conditions known to be associated with pulmonary morbidity may lead to enhanced prognostication antenatally, consequently improving counseling and perinatal care planning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla L Avena-Zampieri
- Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (XX Avena-Zampieri, XX Hall, XX Seed, XX Greenough, and XX Story); Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Avena-Zampieri, Dr Hutter, Mr Deprez, Ms Payette, Dr Hall, Ms Uus, Prof Rutherford, and Dr Story).
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Avena-Zampieri, Dr Hutter, Mr Deprez, Ms Payette, Dr Hall, Ms Uus, Prof Rutherford, and Dr Story)
| | - Maria Deprez
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Avena-Zampieri, Dr Hutter, Mr Deprez, Ms Payette, Dr Hall, Ms Uus, Prof Rutherford, and Dr Story); Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Deprez, Ms Payette, and Ms Uus)
| | - Kelly Payette
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Avena-Zampieri, Dr Hutter, Mr Deprez, Ms Payette, Dr Hall, Ms Uus, Prof Rutherford, and Dr Story); Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Deprez, Ms Payette, and Ms Uus)
| | - Megan Hall
- Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (XX Avena-Zampieri, XX Hall, XX Seed, XX Greenough, and XX Story); Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Avena-Zampieri, Dr Hutter, Mr Deprez, Ms Payette, Dr Hall, Ms Uus, Prof Rutherford, and Dr Story); Fetal Medicine Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom (Dr Hall, Dr Nanda, and Dr Story)
| | - Alena Uus
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Avena-Zampieri, Dr Hutter, Mr Deprez, Ms Payette, Dr Hall, Ms Uus, Prof Rutherford, and Dr Story); Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Deprez, Ms Payette, and Ms Uus)
| | - Surabhi Nanda
- Fetal Medicine Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom (Dr Hall, Dr Nanda, and Dr Story)
| | - Anna Milan
- Neonatal Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom (Dr Milan)
| | - Paul T Seed
- Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (XX Avena-Zampieri, XX Hall, XX Seed, XX Greenough, and XX Story)
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Avena-Zampieri, Dr Hutter, Mr Deprez, Ms Payette, Dr Hall, Ms Uus, Prof Rutherford, and Dr Story)
| | - Anne Greenough
- Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (XX Avena-Zampieri, XX Hall, XX Seed, XX Greenough, and XX Story); Neonatal Unit, King's College Hospital, London, United Kingdom (Prof Greenough); National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre based at Guy's & St Thomas NHS Foundation Trusts and King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Prof Greenough)
| | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (XX Avena-Zampieri, XX Hall, XX Seed, XX Greenough, and XX Story); Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom (Ms Avena-Zampieri, Dr Hutter, Mr Deprez, Ms Payette, Dr Hall, Ms Uus, Prof Rutherford, and Dr Story); Fetal Medicine Unit, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom (Dr Hall, Dr Nanda, and Dr Story)
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20
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Hall M, de Marvao A, Schweitzer R, Cromb D, Colford K, Jandu P, O'Regan DP, Ho A, Price A, Chappell LC, Rutherford MA, Story L, Lamata P, Hutter J. Characterisation of placental, fetal brain and maternal cardiac structure and function in pre-eclampsia using MRI. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2023:2023.04.24.23289069. [PMID: 37163073 PMCID: PMC10168502 DOI: 10.1101/2023.04.24.23289069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Background Pre-eclampsia is a multiorgan disease of pregnancy that has short- and long-term implications for the woman and fetus, whose immediate impact is poorly understood. We present a novel multi-system approach to MRI investigation of pre-eclampsia, with acquisition of maternal cardiac, placental, and fetal brain anatomical and functional imaging. Methods A prospective study was carried out recruiting pregnant women with pre-eclampsia, chronic hypertension, or no medical complications, and a non-pregnant female cohort. All women underwent a cardiac MRI, and pregnant women underwent a fetal-placental MRI. Cardiac analysis for structural, morphological and flow data was undertaken; placenta and fetal brain volumetric and T2* data were obtained. All results were corrected for gestational age. Results Seventy-eight MRIs were obtained during pregnancy. Pregnancies affected by pre-eclampsia demonstrated lower placental and fetal brain T2*. Within the pre-eclampsia group, three placental T2* results were within the normal range, these were the only cases with normal placental histopathology. Similarly, three fetal brain T2* results were within the normal range; these cases had no evidence of cerebral redistribution on fetal Dopplers. Cardiac MRI analysis demonstrated higher left ventricular mass in pre-eclampsia with 3D modelling revealing additional specific characteristics of eccentricity and outflow track remodelling. Conclusions We present the first holistic assessment of the immediate implications of pre-eclampsia on the placenta, maternal heart, and fetal brain. As well as having potential clinical implications for the risk-stratification and management of women with pre-eclampsia, this gives an insight into disease mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Hall
- Department of Women and Children’s Health, King’s College London, UK
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, UK
| | - Antonio de Marvao
- Department of Women and Children’s Health, King’s College London, UK
- School of Cardiovascular Medicine, King’s College London, UK
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London, UK
| | - Ronny Schweitzer
- School of Cardiovascular Medicine, King’s College London, UK
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London, UK
| | - Daniel Cromb
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, UK
| | | | - Priya Jandu
- GKT School of Medical Education, King’s College London, UK
| | - Declan P O'Regan
- MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences, Imperial College London, UK
| | - Alison Ho
- Department of Women and Children’s Health, King’s College London, UK
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, UK
| | - Anthony Price
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, UK
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King’s College London, UK
| | - Lucy C. Chappell
- Department of Women and Children’s Health, King’s College London, UK
| | | | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children’s Health, King’s College London, UK
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, UK
| | - Pablo Lamata
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King’s College London, UK
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, UK
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King’s College London, UK
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21
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Mydtskov ND, Sinding M, Aarøe KK, Thaarup LV, Madsen SBB, Hansen DN, Frøkjær JB, Peters DA, Sørensen ANW. Placental volume, thickness and transverse relaxation time (T2*) estimated by magnetic resonance imaging in relation to small for gestational age at birth. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol 2023; 282:72-76. [PMID: 36669243 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejogrb.2023.01.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2022] [Revised: 12/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/12/2023] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Placental magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be a valuable tool in the prediction of small for gestational age (SGA) at birth. MRI provides reliable estimates of placental volume and thickness. In addition, placental transverse relaxation time (T2*) may be directly related to placental function. This study aimed to explore and compare the predictive performance of three placental MRI parameters - volume, thickness and T2* - in relation to SGA at birth. METHODS A mixed cohort of 85 pregnancies was retrieved from the placental MRI database at the study hospital. MRI was performed in a 1.5 T system at gestational weeks 15-41. In normal birthweight (BW) pregnancies [BW > -22 % of expected for gestational age (GA)], the correlation between each of the MRI parameters and GA was investigated by linear regression. The prediction of SGA was investigated by logistic regression analysis adjusted for GA at MRI. RESULTS In normal BW pregnancies, a significant linear correlation was found between GA and each of the MRI parameters. Univariate analysis demonstrated that placental volume [odds ratio (OR) 0.97, p = 0.001] and placental T2* (OR 0.79, p = 0.003), but not placental thickness (OR 0.92, p = 0.862) were significant predictors of SGA. A multi-variate model including all three MRI parameters found that placental T2* was the only independent predictor of SGA (OR 0.81, p = 0.04). CONCLUSION Among the MRI parameters investigated in this study, placental T2* was the only independent predictor of SGA in a multi-variate model. This finding underlines the strong position of T2*-weighted placental MRI in the prediction of SGA.
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Affiliation(s)
- N D Mydtskov
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - M Sinding
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - K K Aarøe
- Department of Surgery, North Denmark Regional Hospital, Hjørring, Denmark
| | - L V Thaarup
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - S B B Madsen
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - D N Hansen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - J B Frøkjær
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Radiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - D A Peters
- Department of Clinical Engineering, Central Denmark Region, Aarhus N, Denmark
| | - A N W Sørensen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
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22
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Sun Z, Wu W, Zhao P, Wang Q, Woodard PK, Nelson DM, Odibo A, Cahill A, Wang Y. Association of intraplacental oxygenation patterns on dual-contrast MRI with placental abnormality and fetal brain oxygenation. ULTRASOUND IN OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ULTRASOUND IN OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY 2023; 61:215-223. [PMID: 35638228 PMCID: PMC9708928 DOI: 10.1002/uog.24959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2022] [Revised: 05/15/2022] [Accepted: 05/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Most human in-vivo placental imaging techniques are unable to distinguish and characterize various placental compartments, such as the intervillous space (IVS), placental vessels (PV) and placental tissue (PT), limiting their specificity. We describe a method that employs T2* and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data to differentiate automatically placental compartments, quantify their oxygenation properties and identify placental lesions (PL) in vivo. We also investigate the association between placental oxygenation patterns and fetal brain oxygenation. METHODS This was a prospective study conducted between 2018 and 2021 in which dual-contrast clinical MRI data (T2* and diffusion-weighted MRI) were acquired from patients between 20 and 38 weeks' gestation. We trained a fuzzy clustering method to analyze T2* and diffusion-weighted MRI data and assign placental voxels to one of four clusters, based on their distinct imaging domain features. The new method divided automatically the placenta into IVS, PV, PT and PL compartments and characterized their oxygenation changes throughout pregnancy. RESULTS A total of 27 patients were recruited, of whom five developed pregnancy complications. Total placental oxygenation level and T2* did not demonstrate a statistically significant temporal correlation with gestational age (GA) (R2 = 0.060, P = 0.27). In contrast, the oxygenation level reflected by T2* values in the placental IVS (R2 = 0.51, P = 0.0002) and PV (R2 = 0.76, P = 1.1 × 10-7 ) decreased significantly with advancing GA. Oxygenation levels in the PT did not show any temporal change during pregnancy (R2 = 0.00044, P = 0.93). A strong spatial-dependent correlation between PV oxygenation level and GA was observed. The strongest negative correlation between PV oxygenation and GA (R2 = 0.73, P = 4.5 × 10-7 ) was found at the fetal-vessel-dominated region close to the chorionic plate. The location and extent of the placental abnormality were automatically delineated and quantified in the five women with clinically confirmed placental pathology. Compared to the averaged total placental oxygenation, placental IVS oxygenation level best reflected fetal brain oxygenation level during fetal development. CONCLUSION Based on clinically feasible dual-MRI, our method enables accurate spatiotemporal quantification of placental compartment and fetal brain oxygenation across different GAs. This information should improve our knowledge of human placenta development and its relationship with normal and abnormal pregnancy. © 2022 The Authors. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Z. Sun
- Department of Biomedical EngineeringWashington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
- Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
| | - W. Wu
- Department of Biomedical EngineeringWashington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
- Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
| | - P. Zhao
- Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
| | - Q. Wang
- Mallinckrodt Institute of RadiologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
| | - P. K. Woodard
- Department of Biomedical EngineeringWashington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
- Mallinckrodt Institute of RadiologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
| | - D. M. Nelson
- Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
| | - A. Odibo
- Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
| | - A. Cahill
- Department of Women's HealthUniversity of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical SchoolAustinTXUSA
| | - Y. Wang
- Department of Biomedical EngineeringWashington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
- Department of Obstetrics and GynecologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
- Mallinckrodt Institute of RadiologyWashington University School of Medicine, Washington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
- Department of Electrical & Systems EngineeringWashington University in St LouisSt LouisMOUSA
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23
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Schabel MC, Roberts VHJ, Gibbins KJ, Rincon M, Gaffney JE, Streblow AD, Wright AM, Lo JO, Park B, Kroenke CD, Szczotka K, Blue NR, Page JM, Harvey K, Varner MW, Silver RM, Frias AE. Quantitative longitudinal T2* mapping for assessing placental function and association with adverse pregnancy outcomes across gestation. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270360. [PMID: 35853003 PMCID: PMC9295947 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270360] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Existing methods for evaluating in vivo placental function fail to reliably detect pregnancies at-risk for adverse outcomes prior to maternal and/or fetal morbidity. Here we report the results of a prospective dual-site longitudinal clinical study of quantitative placental T2* as measured by blood oxygen-level dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-MRI). The objectives of this study were: 1) to quantify placental T2* at multiple time points across gestation, and its consistency across sites, and 2) to investigate the association between placental T2* and adverse outcomes. 797 successful imaging studies, at up to three time points between 11 and 38 weeks of gestation, were completed in 316 pregnancies. Outcomes were stratified into three groups: (UN) uncomplicated/normal pregnancy, (PA) primary adverse pregnancy, which included hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, birthweight <5th percentile, and/or stillbirth or fetal death, and (SA) secondary abnormal pregnancy, which included abnormal prenatal conditions not included in the PA group such as spontaneous preterm birth or fetal anomalies. Of the 316 pregnancies, 198 (62.6%) were UN, 70 (22.2%) PA, and 48 (15.2%) SA outcomes. We found that the evolution of placental T2* across gestation was well described by a sigmoid model, with T2* decreasing continuously from a high plateau level early in gestation, through an inflection point around 30 weeks, and finally approaching a second, lower plateau in late gestation. Model regression revealed significantly lower T2* in the PA group than in UN pregnancies starting at 15 weeks and continuing through 33 weeks. T2* percentiles were computed for individual scans relative to UN group regression, and z-scores and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves calculated for association of T2* with pregnancy outcome. Overall, differences between UN and PA groups were statistically significant across gestation, with large effect sizes in mid- and late- pregnancy. The area under the curve (AUC) for placental T2* percentile and PA pregnancy outcome was 0.71, with the strongest predictive power (AUC of 0.76) at the mid-gestation time period (20–30 weeks). Our data demonstrate that placental T2* measurements are strongly associated with pregnancy outcomes often attributed to placental insufficiency. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02749851.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias C. Schabel
- Advanced Imaging Research Center, Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Victoria H. J. Roberts
- Division of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC), OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Karen J. Gibbins
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Monica Rincon
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Jessica E. Gaffney
- Division of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC), OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Aaron D. Streblow
- Division of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC), OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Adam M. Wright
- Division of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC), OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Jamie O. Lo
- Division of Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC), OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Byung Park
- Biostatistics Shared Resource, Knight Cancer Institute, OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Christopher D. Kroenke
- Advanced Imaging Research Center, Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), Portland, Oregon, United States of America
- Division of Neuroscience, ONPRC, OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
| | - Kathryn Szczotka
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Nathan R. Blue
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Jessica M. Page
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Kathy Harvey
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Michael W. Varner
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Robert M. Silver
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States of America
| | - Antonio E. Frias
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, OHSU, Portland, Oregon, United States of America
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24
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Hall M, Hutter J, Suff N, Zampieri CA, Tribe RM, Shennan A, Rutherford M, Story L. Antenatal diagnosis of chorioamnionitis: A review of the potential role of fetal and placental imaging. Prenat Diagn 2022; 42:1049-1058. [PMID: 35670265 PMCID: PMC9543023 DOI: 10.1002/pd.6188] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Revised: 05/09/2022] [Accepted: 05/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Chorioamnionitis is present in up to 70% of spontaneous preterm births. It is defined as an acute inflammation of the chorion, with or without involvement of the amnion, and is evidence of a maternal immunological response to infection. A fetal inflammatory response can coexist and is diagnosed on placental histopathology postnatally. Fetal inflammatory response syndrome (FIRS) is associated with poorer fetal and neonatal outcomes. The only antenatal diagnostic test is amniocentesis which carries risks of miscarriage or preterm birth. Imaging of the fetal immune system, in particular the thymus and the spleen, and the placenta may give valuable information antenatally regarding the diagnosis of fetal inflammatory response. While ultrasound is largely limited to structural information, MRI can complement this with functional information that may provide insight into the metabolic activities of the fetal immune system and placenta. This review discusses fetal and placental imaging in pregnancies complicated by chorioamnionitis and their potential future use in achieving non-invasive antenatal diagnosis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Hall
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK.,Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Natalie Suff
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Carla Avena Zampieri
- Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Rachel M Tribe
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Andrew Shennan
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children's Health, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK.,Centre for the Developing Brain, St Thomas' Hospital, King's College London, London, UK
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25
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Abulnaga SM, Turk EA, Bessmeltsev M, Grant PE, Solomon J, Golland P. Volumetric Parameterization of the Placenta to a Flattened Template. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING 2022; 41:925-936. [PMID: 34784274 PMCID: PMC9069541 DOI: 10.1109/tmi.2021.3128743] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
We present a volumetric mesh-based algorithm for parameterizing the placenta to a flattened template to enable effective visualization of local anatomy and function. MRI shows potential as a research tool as it provides signals directly related to placental function. However, due to the curved and highly variable in vivo shape of the placenta, interpreting and visualizing these images is difficult. We address interpretation challenges by mapping the placenta so that it resembles the familiar ex vivo shape. We formulate the parameterization as an optimization problem for mapping the placental shape represented by a volumetric mesh to a flattened template. We employ the symmetric Dirichlet energy to control local distortion throughout the volume. Local injectivity in the mapping is enforced by a constrained line search during the gradient descent optimization. We validate our method using a research study of 111 placental shapes extracted from BOLD MRI images. Our mapping achieves sub-voxel accuracy in matching the template while maintaining low distortion throughout the volume. We demonstrate how the resulting flattening of the placenta improves visualization of anatomy and function. Our code is freely available at https://github.com/mabulnaga/placenta-flattening.
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26
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Ho A, Chappell LC, Story L, Al-Adnani M, Egloff A, Routledge E, Rutherford M, Hutter J. Visual assessment of the placenta in antenatal magnetic resonance imaging across gestation in normal and compromised pregnancies: Observations from a large cohort study. Placenta 2022; 117:29-38. [PMID: 34768166 PMCID: PMC8761363 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2021.10.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2020] [Revised: 09/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Visual assessment of the placenta in antenatal magnetic resonance imaging is important to confirm healthy appearances or to identify pathology complicating fetal anomaly or maternal disease. METHODS We assessed the placenta in a large cohort of 228 women with low and high risk pregnancies across gestation. All women gave written informed consent and were imaged using either a 3T Philips Achieva or 1.5T Philips Ingenia scanner. Images were acquired with a T2-weighted single shot turbo spin echo sequence of the whole uterus (thereby including placenta) for anatomical information. RESULTS A structured approach to visual assessment of the placenta on T2-weighted imaging has been provided including determination of key anatomical landmarks to aid orientation, placental shape, signal intensity, lobularity and granularity. Transient factors affecting imaging are shown including the effect of fetal movement, gross fetal motion and contractions. Placental appearances across gestation in low risk pregnancies are shown and compared to pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia and chronic hypertension. The utility of other magnetic resonance techniques (T2* mapping as an indirect marker for quantifying oxygenation) and histological assessment alongside visual assessment of placental T2-weighted imaging are demonstrated. DISCUSSION A systematic approach with qualitative descriptors for placental visual assessment using T2-weighted imaging allows confirmation of normal placental development and can detect placental abnormalities in pregnancy complications. T2-weighted imaging can be visually assessed alongside functional imaging (such as T2* maps) in order to further probe the visual characteristics seen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison Ho
- Department of Women and Children’s Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lucy C. Chappell
- Department of Women and Children’s Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children’s Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mudher Al-Adnani
- Department of Cellular Pathology, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alexia Egloff
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Emma Routledge
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom,Biomedical Engineering Department, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
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27
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Liu XL, Feng J, Huang CT, Mei YJ, Xu YK. Use of intravoxel incoherent motion MRI to assess placental perfusion in normal and Fetal Growth Restricted pregnancies on their third trimester. Placenta 2021; 118:10-15. [PMID: 34995915 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2021.12.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2021] [Revised: 11/11/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Intravoxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM) MRI is a non-invasive, in vivo techniques which can assess placental perfusion quantitatively, and be useful for evaluating placental microcirculation. Our primary aim was to investigate whether fetal growth restriction (FGR) pregnancies have different placental perfusion and diffusion compared with normal pregnancies using IVIM. A secondary aim was to investigate correlations between placental IVIM parameters and gestational age in normal pregnancy. METHODS This study population included 17 FGR pregnancies and 36 normal pregnancies between 28 + 3 to 38 + 0 weeks. All women underwent a MRI examination including an IVIM sequence with 9 b-values on a 3.0 T MRI system. The standard diffusion coefficeint (D), pseudodiffusion (D*) and perfusion fraction (f) were calculated. RESULTS Placental f was significantly lower in the FGR group than that in the normal group (33.96 ± 2.62(%) vs 38.48 ± 5.31(%), p = 0.002). Placental D and D* in two groups showed no statistical significance (P > 0.05). Placental f moderately increased with increasing gestational age in normal pregnancies (r = 0.411, p = 0.013), and there existed a negative correlation between D values and gestational age (r = -0.390, p = 0.019). DISCUSSION The f values are able to distinguish FGR from normal pregnancies. It can be uses as a feasible index to evaluate placenta perfusion. Gestational age-associated changes in placental IVIM parameters likely reveal trajectories of microvascular perfusion fraction and diffusion characteristics in the normal developing placenta.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xi-Long Liu
- Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 1838 Guangzhou Avenue North, Guangzhou, 510515, Guangdong, China
| | - Jie Feng
- Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 1838 Guangzhou Avenue North, Guangzhou, 510515, Guangdong, China
| | - Chan-Tao Huang
- Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 1838 Guangzhou Avenue North, Guangzhou, 510515, Guangdong, China
| | - Ying-Jie Mei
- Philips Healthcare, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510055, China
| | - Yi-Kai Xu
- Department of Medical Imaging Center, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, No. 1838 Guangzhou Avenue North, Guangzhou, 510515, Guangdong, China.
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28
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Slator PJ, Palombo M, Miller KL, Westin C, Laun F, Kim D, Haldar JP, Benjamini D, Lemberskiy G, de Almeida Martins JP, Hutter J. Combined diffusion-relaxometry microstructure imaging: Current status and future prospects. Magn Reson Med 2021; 86:2987-3011. [PMID: 34411331 PMCID: PMC8568657 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2020] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 07/20/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Microstructure imaging seeks to noninvasively measure and map microscopic tissue features by pairing mathematical modeling with tailored MRI protocols. This article reviews an emerging paradigm that has the potential to provide a more detailed assessment of tissue microstructure-combined diffusion-relaxometry imaging. Combined diffusion-relaxometry acquisitions vary multiple MR contrast encodings-such as b-value, gradient direction, inversion time, and echo time-in a multidimensional acquisition space. When paired with suitable analysis techniques, this enables quantification of correlations and coupling between multiple MR parameters-such as diffusivity, T 1 , T 2 , and T 2 ∗ . This opens the possibility of disentangling multiple tissue compartments (within voxels) that are indistinguishable with single-contrast scans, enabling a new generation of microstructural maps with improved biological sensitivity and specificity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paddy J. Slator
- Centre for Medical Image ComputingDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Marco Palombo
- Centre for Medical Image ComputingDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity College LondonLondonUK
| | - Karla L. Miller
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB, Nuffield Department of Clinical NeurosciencesUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Carl‐Fredrik Westin
- Department of RadiologyBrigham and Women’s HospitalHarvard Medical SchoolBostonMAUSA
| | - Frederik Laun
- Institute of RadiologyUniversity Hospital ErlangenFriedrich‐Alexander‐Universität Erlangen‐Nürnberg (FAU)ErlangenGermany
| | - Daeun Kim
- Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
- Signal and Image Processing InstituteUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
| | - Justin P. Haldar
- Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
- Signal and Image Processing InstituteUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCAUSA
| | - Dan Benjamini
- The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentBethesdaMDUSA
- The Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative MedicineUniformed Service University of the Health SciencesBethesdaMDUSA
| | | | - Joao P. de Almeida Martins
- Division of Physical Chemistry, Department of ChemistryLund UniversityLundSweden
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear MedicineSt. Olav’s University HospitalTrondheimNorway
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for Biomedical EngineeringSchool of Biomedical Engineering and ImagingKing’s College LondonLondonUK
- Centre for the Developing BrainSchool of Biomedical Engineering and ImagingKing’s College LondonLondonUK
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Andescavage N, Limperopoulos C. Emerging placental biomarkers of health and disease through advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Exp Neurol 2021; 347:113868. [PMID: 34562472 DOI: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2021.113868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2021] [Revised: 09/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Placental dysfunction is a major cause of fetal demise, fetal growth restriction, and preterm birth, as well as significant maternal morbidity and mortality. Infant survivors of placental dysfunction are at elevatedrisk for lifelong neuropsychiatric morbidity. However, despite the significant consequences of placental disease, there are no clinical tools to directly and non-invasively assess and measure placental function in pregnancy. In this work, we will review advanced MRI techniques applied to the study of the in vivo human placenta in order to better detail placental structure, architecture, and function. We will discuss the potential of these measures to serve as optimal biomarkers of placental dysfunction and review the evidence of these tools in the discrimination of health and disease in pregnancy. Efforts to advance our understanding of in vivo placental development are necessary if we are to optimize healthy pregnancy outcomes and prevent brain injury in successive generations. Current management of many high-risk pregnancies cannot address placental maldevelopment or injury, given the standard tools available to clinicians. Once accurate biomarkers of placental development and function are constructed, the subsequent steps will be to introduce maternal and fetal therapeutics targeting at optimizing placental function. Applying these biomarkers in future studies will allow for real-time assessments of safety and efficacy of novel interventions aimed at improving maternal-fetal well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nickie Andescavage
- Developing Brain Institute, Department of Radiology, Children's National, Washington DC, USA; Department of Neonatology, Children's National, Washington DC, USA
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Hutter J, Jackson L, Ho A, Avena Zampieri C, Hajnal JV, Al-Adnani M, Nanda S, Shennan AH, Tribe RM, Gibbons D, Rutherford MA, Story L. The use of functional placental magnetic resonance imaging for assessment of the placenta after prolonged preterm rupture of the membranes in vivo: A pilot study. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2021; 100:2244-2252. [PMID: 34546571 DOI: 10.1111/aogs.14267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2021] [Revised: 08/18/2021] [Accepted: 08/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Preterm prelabor rupture of membranes (PPROM) complicates 3% of pregnancies in the UK. Where delivery does not occur spontaneously, expectant management until 37 weeks of gestation is advocated, unless signs of maternal infection develop. However, clinical presentation of maternal infection can be a late sign and injurious fetal inflammatory responses may already have been activated. There is therefore a need for more sensitive markers to aid optimal timing of interventions. At present there is no non-invasive test in clinical practice to assess for infection in the fetal compartment and definitive diagnosis of chorioamnionitis is by histological assessment of the placenta after delivery. This study presents comprehensive functional placental magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) quantification, already used in other organ systems, to assess for infection/inflammation, in women with and without PPROM aiming to explore its use as a biomarker for inflammation within the feto-placental compartment in vivo. MATERIAL AND METHODS Placental MRI scans were performed in a cohort of 12 women (with one having two scans) with PPROM before 34 weeks of gestation (selected because of their high risk of infection), and in a control group of 87 women. Functional placental assessment was performed with magnetic resonance techniques sensitive to changes in the microstructure (diffusion) and tissue composition (relaxometry), with quantification performed both over the entire organ and in regions of interest between the basal and chorionic plate. Placental histology was analyzed after delivery where available. RESULTS Normative evolution of functional magnetic resonance biomarkers over gestation was studied. Cases of inflammation, as assessed by histological presence of chorioamnionitis, and umbilical cord vasculitis with or without funisitis, were associated with lower T2* (mean T2* at 30 weeks 50 ms compared with 58 ms in controls) and higher fractional anisotropy (mean at 30 weeks 0.55 compared with 0.45 in controls). These differences did not reach significance and there was substantial heterogeneity both in T2* and Apparent Diffusivitiy across the cohort. CONCLUSIONS This first exploration of functional placental assessment in a cohort of women with PPROM demonstrates that functional placental MRI can reveal a range of placental changes associated with inflammatory processes. It is a promising tool to gain information and in the future to identify inflammation in vivo, and could therefore assist in improving optimal timing for interventions designed to prevent fetal injury.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Hutter
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Laurence Jackson
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Alison Ho
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK.,Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Carla Avena Zampieri
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK.,Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
| | | | - Surabhi Nanda
- Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Andrew H Shennan
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Rachel M Tribe
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Deena Gibbons
- Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, King's College London, London, UK
| | | | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.,Fetal Medicine Unit, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK
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Pietsch M, Ho A, Bardanzellu A, Zeidan AMA, Chappell LC, Hajnal JV, Rutherford M, Hutter J. APPLAUSE: Automatic Prediction of PLAcental health via U-net Segmentation and statistical Evaluation. Med Image Anal 2021; 72:102145. [PMID: 34229190 PMCID: PMC8350147 DOI: 10.1016/j.media.2021.102145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Revised: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Artificial-intelligence population-based automated quantification of placental maturation and health from a rapid functional Magnetic Resonance scan. The placenta plays a crucial role for any successful human pregnancy. Deviations from the normal dynamic maturation throughout gestation are closely linked to major pregnancy complications. Antenatal assessment in-vivo using T2* relaxometry has shown great promise to inform management and possible interventions but clinical translation is hampered by time consuming manual segmentation and analysis techniques based on comparison against normative curves over gestation. METHODS This study proposes a fully automatic pipeline to predict the biological age and health of the placenta based on a free-breathing rapid (sub-30 second) T2* scan in two steps: Automatic segmentation using a U-Net and a Gaussian process regression model to characterize placental maturation and health. These are trained and evaluated on 108 3T MRI placental data sets, the evaluation included 20 high-risk pregnancies diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and/or fetal growth restriction. An independent cohort imaged at 1.5 T is used to assess the generalization of the training and evaluation pipeline. RESULTS Across low- and high-risk groups, automatic segmentation performs worse than inter-rater performance (mean Dice coefficients of 0.58 and 0.68, respectively) but is sufficient for estimating placental mean T2* (0.986 Pearson Correlation Coefficient). The placental health prediction achieves an excellent ability to differentiate cases of placental insufficiency between 27 and 33 weeks. High abnormality scores correlate with low birth weight, premature birth and histopathological findings. Retrospective application on a different cohort imaged at 1.5 T illustrates the ability for direct clinical translation. CONCLUSION The presented automatic pipeline facilitates a fast, robust and reliable prediction of placental maturation. It yields human-interpretable and verifiable intermediate results and quantifies uncertainties on the cohort-level and for individual predictions. The proposed machine-learning pipeline runs in close to real-time and, deployed in clinical settings, has the potential to become a cornerstone of diagnosis and intervention of placental insufficiency. APPLAUSE generalizes to an independent cohort imaged at 1.5 T, demonstrating robustness to different operational and clinical environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maximilian Pietsch
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK; Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, UK.
| | - Alison Ho
- Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Alessia Bardanzellu
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK; Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Aya Mutaz Ahmad Zeidan
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK; Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Lucy C Chappell
- Department of Women and Children's Health, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK; Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK; Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK; Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, UK
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Hutter J, Ho A, Jackson LH, Slator PJ, Chappell LC, Hajnal JV, Rutherford MA. An efficient and combined placental T 1 -ADC acquisition in pregnancies with and without pre-eclampsia. Magn Reson Med 2021; 86:2684-2691. [PMID: 34268807 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2020] [Revised: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE To provide a new approach to jointly assess microstructural and molecular properties of the human placenta in vivo fast and efficiently and to present initial evidence in cohorts of healthy pregnancies and those affected by pre-eclampsia. METHODS Slice and diffusion preparation shuffling, built on the previously proposed ZEBRA method, is presented as a robust and fast way to obtain T 1 and apparent diffusivity coefficient (ADC) values. Joint modeling and evaluation is performed on a cohort of healthy and pre-eclamptic participants at 3T. RESULTS The datasets show the ability to obtain robust and fast T 1 -ADC measurements. Significant decay over gestation in T 1 (-11 ms/week, P < . 05 ) and a trend toward significance in ADC (-0.23 mm/ s 2 /week, P = .08) values can be observed in a control cohort. Values for the pre-eclamptic pregnancies show a negative trend for both ADC and T 1 . CONCLUSIONS The presented sequence allows the simultaneous acquisition of 2 of the most promising quantitative parameters to study placental insufficiency-identified individually as relevant in previous studies-in under 2 minutes. This allows dynamic assessment of physiological processes, reduced inconsistency in spatial comparisons due to reduced motion artefacts and opens novel avenues for analysis. Initial results in pre-eclamptic placentas, with depicted changes in both ADC and T 1 , illustrate its potential to identify cases of placental insufficiency. Future work will focus on expanding the field-of-view using multi-band acceleration techniques and the expansion to larger and more diverse patient groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Hutter
- Center for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
- Center for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Alison Ho
- Academic Women's Health Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Laurence H Jackson
- Center for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
- Center for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Paddy J Slator
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
| | - Lucy C Chappell
- Academic Women's Health Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Center for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
- Center for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Mary A Rutherford
- Center for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
- Center for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging, King's College London, London, UK
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He J, Chen Z, Chen C, Liu P. Comparative study of placental T2* and intravoxel incoherent motion in the prediction of fetal growth restriction. Placenta 2021; 111:47-53. [PMID: 34157440 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2021.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2021] [Revised: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 06/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Both transverse relaxation time (T2*) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are promising for discriminating fetal growth restriction (FGR). We aimed to compare the utility of these two parameters and their combination in the same cohort. METHODS Twenty-seven FGR and 24 control pregnancies after 28 weeks of gestation in which both T2* and IVIM scans were performed on a 3.0 T MRI were recruited. We compared the T2* Z-score, perfusion fraction (f), diffusion coefficient (D) and pseudodiffusion coefficient (D*) between groups. Binary logistic regression analysis and areas under the curve (AUCs) with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of these parameters and their combination. RESULTS Compared with normal pregnancies, T2* Z-score (0.036 ± 0.95 vs. -2.479 ± 1.56, p < 0.001), f (0.2753 ± 0.035 vs. 0.3304 ± 0.035, p < 0.001), D* (48279.82 ± 7497.36 μm2/s vs. 56167.92 ± 8549.87 μm2/s, p = 0.001) and D (1664.32 ± 288.53 μm2/s vs. 1887.15 ± 204.08 μm2/s, p = 0.002) were significantly decreased in FGR pregnancies. However, only AUC(T2* Z-score) (0.903) and AUC(f) (0.873) were good predictors of FGR. The AUC(T2* Z-score-IVIM) (0.937), calculated with the combination of T2* Z-score and f, was similar to AUC(T2* Z-score) and ACU(f). DISCUSSION Both T2* and f were effective in discriminating FGR. However, the combination of the two parameters did not further improve diagnostic efficacy. We suggest that T2* might be more suitable for evaluating placental dysfunction, as it is fast to obtain and easy to measure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junshen He
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China
| | - Zhao Chen
- Department of Radiology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China
| | - Chunlin Chen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
| | - Ping Liu
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
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Davidson JR, Uus A, Matthew J, Egloff AM, Deprez M, Yardley I, De Coppi P, David A, Carmichael J, Rutherford MA. Fetal body MRI and its application to fetal and neonatal treatment: an illustrative review. THE LANCET. CHILD & ADOLESCENT HEALTH 2021; 5:447-458. [PMID: 33721554 PMCID: PMC7614154 DOI: 10.1016/s2352-4642(20)30313-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 09/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
This Review depicts the evolving role of MRI in the diagnosis and prognostication of anomalies of the fetal body, here including head and neck, thorax, abdomen and spine. A review of the current literature on the latest developments in antenatal imaging for diagnosis and prognostication of congenital anomalies is coupled with illustrative cases in true radiological planes with viewable three-dimensional video models that show the potential of post-acquisition reconstruction protocols. We discuss the benefits and limitations of fetal MRI, from anomaly detection, to classification and prognostication, and defines the role of imaging in the decision to proceed to fetal intervention, across the breadth of included conditions. We also consider the current capabilities of ultrasound and explore how MRI and ultrasound can complement each other in the future of fetal imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph R Davidson
- Prenatal Cell and Gene Therapy, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute of Women's Health, University College London, London, UK; UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK.
| | - Alena Uus
- Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; Perinatal Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Jacqueline Matthew
- Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; Perinatal Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Alexia M Egloff
- Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; Perinatal Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Maria Deprez
- Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; Perinatal Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Iain Yardley
- Paediatric Surgery, Evelina London Children's Hospital, London, UK
| | - Paolo De Coppi
- UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK; Specialist Neonatal and Paediatric Surgery, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, UK; Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Anna David
- Prenatal Cell and Gene Therapy, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute of Women's Health, University College London, London, UK; Fetal Medicine Unit, University College London, London, UK
| | - Jim Carmichael
- Paediatric Radiology, Evelina London Children's Hospital, London, UK
| | - Mary A Rutherford
- Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine; Perinatal Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, UK
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Slator PJ, Hutter J, Marinescu RV, Palombo M, Jackson LH, Ho A, Chappell LC, Rutherford M, Hajnal JV, Alexander DC. Data-Driven multi-Contrast spectral microstructure imaging with InSpect: INtegrated SPECTral component estimation and mapping. Med Image Anal 2021; 71:102045. [PMID: 33934005 PMCID: PMC8543043 DOI: 10.1016/j.media.2021.102045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2020] [Revised: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Unsupervised learning technique for spectroscopic analysis of quantitative MRI. Shares information across voxels to improve estimation of multi-dimensional or single-dimensional spectra. Spectral maps are dramatically improved compared to existing approaches. Can potentially identify and map tissue environments; in placental diffusion-relaxometry MRI we demonstrate that it identifies components that correspond to distinct tissue types.
We introduce and demonstrate an unsupervised machine learning technique for spectroscopic analysis of quantitative MRI experiments. Our algorithm supports estimation of one-dimensional spectra from single-contrast data, and multidimensional correlation spectra from simultaneous multi-contrast data. These spectrum-based approaches allow model-free investigation of tissue properties, but require regularised inversion of a Laplace transform or Fredholm integral, which is an ill-posed calculation. Here we present a method that addresses this limitation in a data-driven way. The algorithm simultaneously estimates a canonical basis of spectral components and voxelwise maps of their weightings, thereby pooling information across whole images to regularise the ill-posed problem. We show in simulations that our algorithm substantially outperforms current voxelwise spectral approaches. We demonstrate the method on multi-contrast diffusion-relaxometry placental MRI scans, revealing anatomically-relevant sub-structures, and identifying dysfunctional placentas. Our algorithm vastly reduces the data required to reliably estimate spectra, opening up the possibility of quantitative MRI spectroscopy in a wide range of new applications. Our InSpect code is available at github.com/paddyslator/inspect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paddy J Slator
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, UK.
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Kings College London, London, UK; Biomedical Engineering Department, Kings College London, London, UK
| | - Razvan V Marinescu
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, UK
| | - Marco Palombo
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, UK
| | - Laurence H Jackson
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Kings College London, London, UK; Biomedical Engineering Department, Kings College London, London, UK
| | - Alison Ho
- Women's Health Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Lucy C Chappell
- Women's Health Department, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Kings College London, London, UK
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Kings College London, London, UK; Biomedical Engineering Department, Kings College London, London, UK
| | - Daniel C Alexander
- Centre for Medical Image Computing, Department of Computer Science, University College London, UK
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Steinweg JK, Hui GTY, Pietsch M, Ho A, van Poppel MP, Lloyd D, Colford K, Simpson JM, Razavi R, Pushparajah K, Rutherford M, Hutter J. T2* placental MRI in pregnancies complicated with fetal congenital heart disease. Placenta 2021; 108:23-31. [PMID: 33798991 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2021.02.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most important and common group of congenital malformations in humans. Concurrent development and close functional links between the fetal heart and placenta emphasise the importance of understanding placental function and its influence in pregnancy outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate placental oxygenation by relaxometry (T2*) to assess differences in placental phenotype and function in CHD. METHODS In this prospective cross-sectional observational study, 69 women with a fetus affected with CHD and 37 controls, whole placental T2* was acquired using a 1.5-Tesla MRI scanner. Gaussian Process Regression was used to assess differences in placental phenotype in CHD cohorts compared to our controls. RESULTS Placental T2* maps demonstrated significant differences in CHD compared to controls at equivalent gestational age. Mean T2* values over the entire placental volume were lowest compared to predicted normal in right sided obstructive lesions (RSOL) (Z-Score 2.30). This cohort also showed highest lacunarity indices (Z-score -1.7), as a marker of lobule size. Distribution patterns of T2* values over the entire placental volume were positively skewed in RSOL (Z-score -4.69) and suspected, not confirmed coarctation of the aorta (CoA-) (Z-score -3.83). Deviations were also reflected in positive kurtosis in RSOL (Z-score -3.47) and CoA- (Z-score -2.86). CONCLUSION Placental structure and function appear to deviate from normal development in pregnancies with fetal CHD. Specific patterns of altered placental function assessed by T2* deliver crucial complementary information to antenatal assessments in the presence of fetal CHD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes K Steinweg
- Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Grace Tin Yan Hui
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Maximilian Pietsch
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alison Ho
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Milou Pm van Poppel
- Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - David Lloyd
- Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Congenital Heart Disease, Evelina Children's Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kathleen Colford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - John M Simpson
- Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Congenital Heart Disease, Evelina Children's Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Reza Razavi
- Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Congenital Heart Disease, Evelina Children's Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kuberan Pushparajah
- Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Congenital Heart Disease, Evelina Children's Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
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Ho A, Hutter J, Slator P, Jackson L, Seed PT, Mccabe L, Al-Adnani M, Marnerides A, George S, Story L, Hajnal JV, Rutherford M, Chappell LC. Placental magnetic resonance imaging in chronic hypertension: A case-control study. Placenta 2021; 104:138-145. [PMID: 33341490 PMCID: PMC7921773 DOI: 10.1016/j.placenta.2020.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2020] [Revised: 11/28/2020] [Accepted: 12/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION We aimed to explore the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in vivo as a tool to elucidate the placental phenotype in women with chronic hypertension. METHODS In case-control study, women with chronic hypertension and those with uncomplicated pregnancies were imaged using either a 3T Achieva or 1.5T Ingenia scanner. T2-weighted images, diffusion weighted and T1/T2* relaxometry data was acquired. Placental T2*, T1 and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were calculated. RESULTS 129 women (43 with chronic hypertension and 86 uncomplicated pregnancies) were imaged at a median of 27.7 weeks' gestation (interquartile range (IQR) 23.9-32.1) and 28.9 (IQR 26.1-32.9) respectively. Visual analysis of T2-weighted imaging demonstrated placentae to be either appropriate for gestation or to have advanced lobulation in women with chronic hypertension, resulting in a greater range of placental mean T2* values for a given gestation, compared to gestation-matched controls. Both skew and kurtosis (derived from histograms of T2* values across the whole placenta) increased with advancing gestational age at imaging in healthy pregnancies; women with chronic hypertension had values overlapping those in the control group range. Upon visual assessment, the mean ADC declined in the third trimester, with a corresponding decline in placental mean T2* values and showed an overlap of values between women with chronic hypertension and the control group. DISCUSSION A combined placental MR examination including T2 weighted imaging, T2*, T1 mapping and diffusion imaging demonstrates varying placental phenotypes in a cohort of women with chronic hypertension, showing overlap with the control group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison Ho
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Biomedical Engineering Department, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Paddy Slator
- Centre for Medical Image Computing and Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Laurence Jackson
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Biomedical Engineering Department, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Paul T Seed
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Laura Mccabe
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mudher Al-Adnani
- Department of Cellular Pathology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andreas Marnerides
- Department of Cellular Pathology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Simi George
- Department of Cellular Pathology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa Story
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom; Biomedical Engineering Department, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lucy C Chappell
- Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
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38
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Anderson KB, Andersen AS, Hansen DN, Sinding M, Peters DA, Frøkjaer JB, Sørensen A. Placental transverse relaxation time (T2) estimated by MRI: Normal values and the correlation with birthweight. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2020; 100:934-940. [PMID: 33258106 DOI: 10.1111/aogs.14057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2020] [Revised: 11/20/2020] [Accepted: 11/24/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Placental transverse relaxation time (T2) assessed by MRI may have the potential to improve the antenatal identification of small for gestational age. The aims of this study were to provide normal values of placental T2 in relation to gestational age at the time of MRI and to explore the correlation between placental T2 and birthweight. MATERIAL AND METHODS A mixed cohort of 112 singleton pregnancies was retrieved from our placental MRI research database. MRI was performed at 23.6-41.3 weeks of gestation in a 1.5T system (TE (8): 50-440 ms, TR: 4000 ms). Normal pregnancies were defined by uncomplicated pregnancies with normal obstetric outcome and birthweight deviation within ±1 SD of the expected for gestational age. The correlation between placental T2 and birthweight was investigated using the following outcomes; small for gestational age (birthweight ≤-2 SD of the expected for gestational age) and birthweight deviation (birthweight Z-scores). RESULTS In normal pregnancies (n = 27), placenta T2 showed a significant negative linear correlation with gestational age (r = -.91, P = .0001) being 184 ms ± 15.94 ms (mean ± SD) at 20 weeks of gestation and 89 ms ± 15.94 ms at 40 weeks of gestation. Placental T2 was significantly reduced among small-for-gestational-age pregnancies (mean Z-score -1.95, P < .001). Moreover, we found a significant positive correlation between placenta T2 deviation (Z-score) and birthweight deviation (Z-score) (R2 = .26, P = .0001). CONCLUSIONS This study provides normal values of placental T2 to be used in future studies on placental MRI. Placental T2 is closely related to birthweight and may improve the antenatal identification of small-for-gestational-age pregnancies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristi B Anderson
- Department of Pathology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Anna S Andersen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Ditte N Hansen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.,Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Marianne Sinding
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.,Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - David A Peters
- Department of Clinical Engineering, Central Denmark Region, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Jens B Frøkjaer
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.,Department of Radiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Anne Sørensen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.,Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
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39
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Sørensen A, Sinding M. Placental Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Method to Evaluate Placental Function In Vivo. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am 2020; 47:197-213. [PMID: 32008669 DOI: 10.1016/j.ogc.2019.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
This article describes the use of placental magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) relaxation times in the in vivo assessment of placental function. It focuses on T2*-weighted placental MRI, the main area of the authors' research over the past decade. The rationale behind T2*-weighted placental MRI, the main findings reported in the literature, and directions for future research and clinical applications of this method are discussed. The article concludes that placental T2* relaxation time is an easily obtained and robust measurement, which can discriminate between normal and dysfunctional placenta. Placenta T2* is a promising tool for in vivo assessment of placental function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Sørensen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Reberbansgade 15, Aalborg 9000, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Sdr. Skovvej 15, Aalborg 9000, Denmark.
| | - Marianne Sinding
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Reberbansgade 15, Aalborg 9000, Denmark; Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Sdr. Skovvej 15, Aalborg 9000, Denmark
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40
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Zun Z, Kapse K, Quistorff J, Andescavage N, Gimovsky AC, Ahmadzia H, Limperopoulos C. Feasibility of QSM in the human placenta. Magn Reson Med 2020; 85:1272-1281. [PMID: 32936489 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2020] [Revised: 08/05/2020] [Accepted: 08/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is an emerging tool for the precise characterization of human tissue, including regional oxygenation. A critical function of the human placenta is oxygen transfer to the developing fetus, which remains difficult to study in utero. The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of performing QSM in the human placenta in utero. METHODS In healthy pregnant women, 3D gradient echo data of the placenta were acquired with prospective respiratory gating at 1.5 Tesla and 3 Tesla. A brief period (6-7 min) of maternal hyperoxia was induced to increase placental oxygenation in a subset of women scanned at 3 Tesla, and data were acquired before and during oxygen administration. Susceptibility and T 2 ∗ / R 2 ∗ maps were reconstructed from gradient echo data, and mean and SD of these measures within the whole placenta were calculated. RESULTS A total of 54 women were studied at a mean gestational age of 30.7 ± 4.2 (range: 24 5/7-38 4/7) weeks. Susceptibility and T 2 ∗ maps demonstrated lobular contrast reflecting regional oxygenation difference at both field strengths. SD of susceptibilities, mean R 2 ∗ , and SD of R 2 ∗ of the placenta showed a linear relationship with gestational age (P < .01 for all). These measures were also responsive to maternal hyperoxia, and there was an increasing response with advancing gestational age (P < .01 for all). CONCLUSION This study demonstrates the feasibility of performing placental QSM in pregnant women and supports the potential for placental QSM to provide noninvasive in vivo assessment of placental oxygenation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zungho Zun
- Developing Brain Institute, Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.,Division of Fetal and Transitional Medicine, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.,Department of Radiology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Kushal Kapse
- Developing Brain Institute, Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Jessica Quistorff
- Developing Brain Institute, Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Nickie Andescavage
- Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.,Division of Neonatology, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Alexis C Gimovsky
- Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Homa Ahmadzia
- Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Catherine Limperopoulos
- Developing Brain Institute, Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.,Division of Fetal and Transitional Medicine, Children's National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA.,Department of Radiology, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
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41
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Dellschaft NS, Hutchinson G, Shah S, Jones NW, Bradley C, Leach L, Platt C, Bowtell R, Gowland PA. The haemodynamics of the human placenta in utero. PLoS Biol 2020; 18:e3000676. [PMID: 32463837 PMCID: PMC7255609 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2020] [Accepted: 04/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
We have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to provide important new insights into the function of the human placenta in utero. We have measured slow net flow and high net oxygenation in the placenta in vivo, which are consistent with efficient delivery of oxygen from mother to fetus. Our experimental evidence substantiates previous hypotheses on the effects of spiral artery remodelling in utero and also indicates rapid venous drainage from the placenta, which is important because this outflow has been largely neglected in the past. Furthermore, beyond Braxton Hicks contractions, which involve the entire uterus, we have identified a new physiological phenomenon, the ‘utero-placental pump’, by which the placenta and underlying uterine wall contract independently of the rest of the uterus, expelling maternal blood from the intervillous space. MRI provides important new insights into the function of the human placenta, revealing slow net flow and high, uniform oxygenation in healthy pregnancies, detecting changes that will lead to compromised oxygen delivery to the fetus in preeclampsia, and identifying a new physiological phenomenon, the ‘utero-placental pump’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neele S. Dellschaft
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - George Hutchinson
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Simon Shah
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Nia W. Jones
- Department of Child Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Chris Bradley
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Lopa Leach
- School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Craig Platt
- Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Richard Bowtell
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - Penny A. Gowland
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Nottingham Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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42
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Sørensen A, Sinding M. Preeclamptic Placenta: New Insights Using Placental Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Hypertension 2020; 75:1412-1413. [PMID: 32401645 DOI: 10.1161/hypertensionaha.120.14855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anne Sørensen
- From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark (A.S., M.S.).,Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark (A.S., M.S.)
| | - Marianne Sinding
- From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Denmark (A.S., M.S.).,Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark (A.S., M.S.)
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43
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Ho AEP, Hutter J, Jackson LH, Seed PT, Mccabe L, Al-Adnani M, Marnerides A, George S, Story L, Hajnal JV, Rutherford MA, Chappell LC. T2* Placental Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Preterm Preeclampsia: An Observational Cohort Study. HYPERTENSION (DALLAS, TEX. : 1979) 2020; 75:1523-1531. [PMID: 32336233 PMCID: PMC7682790 DOI: 10.1161/hypertensionaha.120.14701] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Placental dysfunction underlies the cause of pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia. The use of placental magnetic resonance imaging to provide an insight into the pathophysiology of preeclampsia and thus assess its potential use to inform prognosis and clinical management was explored. In this prospective observational cohort study, 14 women with preterm preeclampsia and 48 gestation-matched controls using 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging at median of 31.6 weeks (interquartile range [IQR], 28.6-34.6) and 32.2 weeks (IQR, 28.6-33.8), respectively, were imaged. The acquired data included T2-weighted images and T2* maps of the placenta, the latter an indicative measure of placental oxygenation. Placentae in women with preeclampsia demonstrated advanced lobulation, varied lobule sizes, high granularity, and substantial areas of low-signal intensity on T2-weighted imaging, with reduced entire placental mean T2* values for gestational age (2 sample t test, t=7.49) correlating with a reduction in maternal PlGF (placental growth factor) concentrations (Spearman rank correlation coefficient 0.76) and increased lacunarity values (t=3.26). Median mean T2* reduced from 67 ms (IQR, 54-73) at 26.0 to 29.8 weeks' gestation to 38 ms (IQR, 28-40) at 34.0 to 37.9 weeks' gestation in the control group. In women with preeclampsia, median T2* was 23 ms (IQR, 20-23) at 26.0 to 29.8 weeks' gestation and remained low (22 ms [IQR, 20-26] at 34.0-37.8 weeks' gestation). Histological features of maternal vascular malperfusion were only found in placentae from women with preeclampsia. Placental volume did not differ between the control group and women with preeclampsia. Placental magnetic resonance imaging allows both objective quantification of placental function in vivo and elucidation of the complex mechanisms underlying preeclampsia development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison E P Ho
- From the Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences (A.E.P.H., P.S., L.S., L.C.C.), King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Jana Hutter
- Centre for the Developing Brain (J.H., L.H.J., L.M., J.V.H., M.A.R.), King's College London, United Kingdom.,Biomedical Engineering Department (J.H., L.H.J., J.V.H.), King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Laurence H Jackson
- Centre for the Developing Brain (J.H., L.H.J., L.M., J.V.H., M.A.R.), King's College London, United Kingdom.,Biomedical Engineering Department (J.H., L.H.J., J.V.H.), King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Paul T Seed
- From the Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences (A.E.P.H., P.S., L.S., L.C.C.), King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Laura Mccabe
- Centre for the Developing Brain (J.H., L.H.J., L.M., J.V.H., M.A.R.), King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Mudher Al-Adnani
- Department of Cellular Pathology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, United Kingdom (M.A.-A., A.M., S.G.)
| | - Andreas Marnerides
- Department of Cellular Pathology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, United Kingdom (M.A.-A., A.M., S.G.)
| | - Simi George
- Department of Cellular Pathology, Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London, United Kingdom (M.A.-A., A.M., S.G.)
| | - Lisa Story
- From the Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences (A.E.P.H., P.S., L.S., L.C.C.), King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Centre for the Developing Brain (J.H., L.H.J., L.M., J.V.H., M.A.R.), King's College London, United Kingdom.,Biomedical Engineering Department (J.H., L.H.J., J.V.H.), King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Mary A Rutherford
- Centre for the Developing Brain (J.H., L.H.J., L.M., J.V.H., M.A.R.), King's College London, United Kingdom
| | - Lucy C Chappell
- From the Department of Women and Children's Health, School of Life Course Sciences (A.E.P.H., P.S., L.S., L.C.C.), King's College London, United Kingdom
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44
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Harteveld AA, Hutter J, Franklin SL, Jackson LH, Rutherford M, Hajnal JV, van Osch MJP, Bos C, De Vita E. Systematic evaluation of velocity-selective arterial spin labeling settings for placental perfusion measurement. Magn Reson Med 2020; 84:1828-1843. [PMID: 32141655 PMCID: PMC7384055 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2019] [Revised: 02/04/2020] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Purpose Placental function is key for successful human pregnancies. Perfusion may be a sensitive marker for the in vivo assessment of placental function. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI enables noninvasive measurement of tissue perfusion and it was recently suggested that ASL with velocity‐selective (VS) labeling could be advantageous in the placenta. We systematically evaluated essential VS‐ASL sequence parameters to determine optimal settings for efficient placental perfusion measurements. Methods Eleven pregnant women were scanned at 3T using VS‐ASL with 2D multislice echo planar imaging (EPI)‐readout. One reference VS‐ASL scan was acquired in all subjects; within subgroups the following parameters were systematically varied: cutoff velocity, velocity encoding direction, and inflow time. Visual evaluation and region of interest analyses were performed to compare perfusion signal differences between acquisitions. Results In all subjects, a perfusion pattern with clear hyperintense focal regions was observed. Perfusion signal decreased with inflow time and cutoff velocity. Subject‐specific dependence on velocity encoding direction was observed. High temporal signal‐to‐noise ratios with high contrast on the perfusion images between the hyperintense regions and placental tissue were seen at ~1.6 cm/s cutoff velocity and ~1000 ms inflow time. Evaluation of measurements at multiple inflow times revealed differences in blood flow dynamics between placental regions. Conclusion Placental perfusion measurements are feasible at 3T using VS‐ASL with 2D multislice EPI‐readout. A clear dependence of perfusion signal on VS labeling parameters and inflow time was demonstrated. Whereas multiple parameter combinations may advance the interpretation of placental circulation dynamics, this study provides a basis to select an effective set of parameters for the observation of placenta perfusion natural history and its potential pathological changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita A Harteveld
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Jana Hutter
- Biomedical Engineering, School of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Suzanne L Franklin
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.,C.J. Gorter Center for high field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Laurence H Jackson
- Biomedical Engineering, School of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Mary Rutherford
- Biomedical Engineering, School of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Biomedical Engineering, School of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Matthias J P van Osch
- C.J. Gorter Center for high field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Clemens Bos
- Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Enrico De Vita
- Biomedical Engineering, School of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom
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45
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Sørensen A, Hutter J, Seed M, Grant PE, Gowland P. T2*-weighted placental MRI: basic research tool or emerging clinical test for placental dysfunction? ULTRASOUND IN OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY : THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF ULTRASOUND IN OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY 2020; 55:293-302. [PMID: 31452271 DOI: 10.1002/uog.20855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2019] [Revised: 08/12/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- A Sørensen
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - J Hutter
- Center for Medical Engineering, King's College London, London, UK
| | - M Seed
- Department of Cardiology, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
| | - P E Grant
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - P Gowland
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK
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46
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Aughwane R, Ingram E, Johnstone ED, Salomon LJ, David AL, Melbourne A. Placental MRI and its application to fetal intervention. Prenat Diagn 2020; 40:38-48. [PMID: 31306507 PMCID: PMC7027916 DOI: 10.1002/pd.5526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Revised: 06/18/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of placental invasion has been part of clinical practice for many years. The possibility of being better able to assess placental vascularization and function using MRI has multiple potential applications. This review summarises up-to-date research on placental function using different MRI modalities. METHOD We discuss how combinations of these MRI techniques have much to contribute to fetal conditions amenable for therapy such as singletons at high risk for fetal growth restriction (FGR) and monochorionic twin pregnancies for planning surgery and counselling for selective growth restriction and transfusion conditions. RESULTS The whole placenta can easily be visualized on MRI, with a clear boundary against the amniotic fluid, and a less clear placental-uterine boundary. Contrasts such as diffusion weighted imaging, relaxometry, blood oxygenation level dependent MRI and flow and metabolite measurement by dynamic contrast enhanced MRI, arterial spin labeling, or spectroscopic techniques are contributing to our wider understanding of placental function. CONCLUSION The future of placental MRI is exciting, with the increasing availability of multiple contrasts and new models that will boost the capability of MRI to measure oxygen saturation and placental exchange, enabling examination of placental function in complicated pregnancies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Emma Ingram
- Division of Developmental Biology & MedicineUniversity of ManchesterManchesterUK
| | - Edward D. Johnstone
- Division of Developmental Biology & MedicineUniversity of ManchesterManchesterUK
| | - Laurent J. Salomon
- Hôpital Necker‐Enfants Malades, AP‐HP, EHU PACT and LUMIERE PlatformUniversité Paris DescartesParisFrance
| | - Anna L. David
- Institute for Women's HealthUniversity College LondonLondonUK
- National Institute for Health ResearchUniversity College London Hospitals Biomedical Research CentreLondonUK
| | - Andrew Melbourne
- School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging SciencesKing's College LondonLondonUK
- Medical Physics and Biomedical EngineeringUniversity College LondonLondonUK
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Hu HH, Branca RT, Hernando D, Karampinos DC, Machann J, McKenzie CA, Wu HH, Yokoo T, Velan SS. Magnetic resonance imaging of obesity and metabolic disorders: Summary from the 2019 ISMRM Workshop. Magn Reson Med 2019; 83:1565-1576. [PMID: 31782551 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2019] [Revised: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 11/11/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
More than 100 attendees from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States convened in Singapore for the 2019 ISMRM-sponsored workshop on MRI of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders. The scientific program brought together a multidisciplinary group of researchers, trainees, and clinicians and included sessions in diabetes and insulin resistance; an update on recent advances in water-fat MRI acquisition and reconstruction methods; with applications in skeletal muscle, bone marrow, and adipose tissue quantification; a summary of recent findings in brown adipose tissue; new developments in imaging fat in the fetus, placenta, and neonates; the utility of liver elastography in obesity studies; and the emerging role of radiomics in population-based "big data" studies. The workshop featured keynote presentations on nutrition, epidemiology, genetics, and exercise physiology. Forty-four proffered scientific abstracts were also presented, covering the topics of brown adipose tissue, quantitative liver analysis from multiparametric data, disease prevalence and population health, technical and methodological developments in data acquisition and reconstruction, newfound applications of machine learning and neural networks, standardization of proton density fat fraction measurements, and X-nuclei applications. The purpose of this article is to summarize the scientific highlights from the workshop and identify future directions of work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Houchun H Hu
- Department of Radiology, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio
| | - Rosa Tamara Branca
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
| | - Diego Hernando
- Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin.,Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Dimitrios C Karampinos
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Jürgen Machann
- Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases, Helmholtz Center Munich at the University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,German Center for Diabetes Research, Tübingen, Germany.,Section on Experimental Radiology, Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Charles A McKenzie
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Holden H Wu
- Department of Radiological Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
| | - Takeshi Yokoo
- Department of Radiology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
| | - S Sendhil Velan
- Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research, Singapore.,Singapore BioImaging Consortium, Agency for Science Technology and Research, Singapore
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Volpe JJ. Placental assessment provides insight into mechanisms and timing of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. J Neonatal Perinatal Med 2019; 12:113-116. [PMID: 31256081 PMCID: PMC6597972 DOI: 10.3233/npm-190270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Joseph J Volpe
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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49
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Hutter J, Jackson L, Ho A, Pietsch M, Story L, Chappell LC, Hajnal JV, Rutherford M. T2* relaxometry to characterize normal placental development over gestation in-vivo at 3T. Wellcome Open Res 2019. [DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15451.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Background: T2* relaxometry has been identified as a non-invasive way to study the placenta in-vivo with good potential to identify placental insufficiency. Typical interpretation links T2* values to oxygen concentrations. This study aimed to comprehensively assess T2* maps as a marker of placental oxygenation in-vivo. Methods: A multi-echo gradient echo echo planar imaging sequence is used in a cohort of 84 healthy pregnant women. Special emphasis is put on spatial analysis: histogram measures, Histogram Asymmetry Measure (HAM) and lacunarity. Influences of maternal, fetal and placental factors and experimental parameters on the proposed measures are evaluated. Results: T2* maps were obtained from each placenta in less than 30sec. The previously reported decreasing trend in mean T2* with gestation was confirmed (3.45 ms decline per week). Factors such as maternal age, BMI, fetal sex, parity, mode of delivery and placental location were shown to be uncorrelated with T2* once corrected for gestational age. Robustness of the obtained values with regard to variation in segmentation and voxel-size were established. The proposed spatially resolved measures reveal a change in T2* in late gestation. Conclusions: T2* mapping is a robust and quick technique allowing quantification of both whole volume and spatial quantification largely independent of confounding factors.
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Turk EA, Stout JN, Ha C, Luo J, Gagoski B, Yetisir F, Golland P, Wald LL, Adalsteinsson E, Robinson JN, Roberts DJ, Barth WH, Grant PE. Placental MRI: Developing Accurate Quantitative Measures of Oxygenation. Top Magn Reson Imaging 2019; 28:285-297. [PMID: 31592995 PMCID: PMC7323862 DOI: 10.1097/rmr.0000000000000221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023]
Abstract
The Human Placenta Project has focused attention on the need for noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based techniques to diagnose and monitor placental function throughout pregnancy. The hope is that the management of placenta-related pathologies would be improved if physicians had more direct, real-time measures of placental health to guide clinical decision making. As oxygen alters signal intensity on MRI and oxygen transport is a key function of the placenta, many of the MRI methods under development are focused on quantifying oxygen transport or oxygen content of the placenta. For example, measurements from blood oxygen level-dependent imaging of the placenta during maternal hyperoxia correspond to outcomes in twin pregnancies, suggesting that some aspects of placental oxygen transport can be monitored by MRI. Additional methods are being developed to accurately quantify baseline placental oxygenation by MRI relaxometry. However, direct validation of placental MRI methods is challenging and therefore animal studies and ex vivo studies of human placentas are needed. Here we provide an overview of the current state of the art of oxygen transport and quantification with MRI. We suggest that as these techniques are being developed, increased focus be placed on ensuring they are robust and reliable across individuals and standardized to enable predictive diagnostic models to be generated from the data. The field is still several years away from establishing the clinical benefit of monitoring placental function in real time with MRI, but the promise of individual personalized diagnosis and monitoring of placental disease in real time continues to motivate this effort.
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Affiliation(s)
- Esra Abaci Turk
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, MA, USA
| | - Jeffrey N. Stout
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, MA, USA
| | - Christopher Ha
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, MA, USA
| | - Jie Luo
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Borjan Gagoski
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, MA, USA
| | - Filiz Yetisir
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, MA, USA
| | - Polina Golland
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Lawrence L. Wald
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Elfar Adalsteinsson
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Julian N. Robinson
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA
| | | | - William H. Barth
- Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - P. Ellen Grant
- Fetal-Neonatal Neuroimaging & Developmental Science Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, MA, USA
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