Abstract
Purpose
To investigate, visualize and quantify the physiology of the human placenta in several dimensions ‐ functional, temporal over gestation, and spatial over the whole organ.
Methods
Bespoke MRI techniques, combining a rich diffusion protocol, anatomical data and T2* mapping together with a multi‐modal pipeline including motion correction and extracted quantitative features were developed and employed on pregnant women between 22 and 38 weeks gestational age including two pregnancies diagnosed with pre‐eclampsia.
Results
A multi‐faceted assessment was demonstrated showing trends of increasing lacunarity, and decreasing T2* and diffusivity over gestation.
Conclusions
The obtained multi‐modal acquisition and quantification shows promising opportunities for studying evolution, adaptation and compensation processes.
To investigate, visualize and quantify the physiology of the human placenta in several dimensions ‐ functional, temporal over gestation, and spatial over the whole organ.
Methods
Bespoke MRI techniques, combining a rich diffusion protocol, anatomical data and T2* mapping together with a multi‐modal pipeline including motion correction and extracted quantitative features were developed and employed on pregnant women between 22 and 38 weeks gestational age including two pregnancies diagnosed with pre‐eclampsia.
Results
A multi‐faceted assessment was demonstrated showing trends of increasing lacunarity, and decreasing T2* and diffusivity over gestation.
Conclusions
The obtained multi‐modal acquisition and quantification shows promising opportunities for studying evolution, adaptation and compensation processes.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1191-1204 |
Journal | Magnetic Resonance in Medicine |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 2 |
Early online date | 21 Sept 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 28 Feb 2019 |
Keywords
- Placenta
- MRI
- multi-modal