1311
Detecting normal Fetal brain development with T1Mapping Imaging Technique1Department of Radiology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China, 2Department of Radiology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China, Zhengzhou, China, 3MR Research China, GE Healthcare, Beijing 100000, PR China, Beijing, China
Synopsis
Fetal brain development is an ongoing process, and it is necessary to find a sensitive monitoring tool to detect potential brain developmental abnormalities earlier. In this work, T1Mapping allowed quantitative assessment of fetal brain development.
Introduction
Myelination is a main maturation process of the white matter, whose onset and rate differs in various areas of the brain and follows different time scales after birth[1]. Multiple MRI quantitative techniques have confirmed that postnatal brain development is an ongoing maturation process[2,3]. As a result of a progressive increase in macromolecular concentration and a decrease in tissue water content as brain matures, T1 relaxation time are sensitive to changes in tissue water content and compartmentalization4,5. The fetal brain development is also a continuous process before birth. Those changes can be intuitively evaluated on conventional MRI because the change of tissue components may influence the relaxation in MRI. T1Mpping is an MRI imaging technique that can quantify the T1 relaxation time of tissue structures. However, to date, this technique has not been applied to fetal brain development. Therefore, this work aims to characterise the pattern of change of T1 relaxation time in the two regions of Thalamus and Corticospinal fibers in fetal brain development.Material and Methods
Sixteen pregnant women were consecutively enrolled in our work from October 2020 to November 2020 in the Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. MRIs were acquired as a part of a broader cohort of a prospective longitudinal study. Gestation week at T1Mapping examination was 25+3 weeks to 36 weeks. A routine cranial scan of the fetus was also performed, and none of the fetuses were found to have obvious structural brain abnormalities or cerebral hemorrhage. Eight images were excluded due to poor image quality. Studies were conducted on a 3.0 T MR scanner (Pioneer, GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI). The synthetic MRI sequence was set with the following parameters: TR= 3.3 ms, TE= 1.4 ms; Field of view=34cm2; Section thickness=4mm; Acquisition time =17 seconds. Two regions of interest (ROIs) were measured in Thalamus and Corticospinal fibers (Figure. 1). GraphPad Prism 8.0.2 software was used for data analysis. P<0.05 is considered statistically significant.Results
In the Thalamus and Corticospinal fibers, T1 relaxation time was negatively correlated with gestational age, but there was no statistical significance (all p﹥0.05).(Figure.2-3)Discussion
If we can find effective and sensitive tools to monitor fetal brain development, we can assess the adverse effects of multiple perinatal factors on fetal brain development. For example, the adverse effects of high-risk pregnancies such as hypertensive disorders during pregnancy and gestational diabetes on fetal brain development would be further explored. In the present work, T1Mapping allowed quantitative assessment of fetal brain development, but its sensitivity needs to be confirmed by further studies. Some points to ponder: a. Continue to optimize scan parameters to reduce scan time or improve resolution; b. Collection of sag-T1Mapping to study the developmental pattern of fetal corpus callosum. c. Acquisition of Multiple cranial anatomical regions to further explore the monitoring or predictive value of T1Mapping on fetal brain development.Conclusion
In the current work, T1Mapping allowed quantitative assessment of fetal brain development, but its sensitivity needs to be further studied.Acknowledgements
The authors thank the patients and their families for
the time and effort they dedicated to the research
References
1. Nakagawa, H; Iwasaki, S; Kichikawa, K; et al.Normal myelination of anatomic nerve fiber bundles: MR analysis.[J].AJNR Am J Neuroradiol.1998,19(6):1129-36.
2. Shi, J; Yang, S; Wang, J; et al. Detecting normal pediatric brain development with diffusional kurtosis imaging.[J].Eur J Radiol.2019,120():108690.
3. Lee, SM; Choi, YH; You, SK; et al. Age-Related Changes in Tissue Value Properties in Children: Simultaneous Quantification of Relaxation Times and Proton Density Using Synthetic Magnetic Resonance Imaging.[J].Invest Radiol.2018,53(4):236-245.
4. Mukherjee, P; Miller, JH; Shimony, JS; et al. Diffusion-tensor MR imaging of gray and white matter development during normal human brain maturation.[J].AJNR Am J Neuroradiol.2002,23(9):1445-56.
5. Nossin-Manor, R; Card, D; Morris, D; et al. Quantitative MRI in the very preterm brain: assessing tissue organization and myelination using magnetization transfer, diffusion tensor and T1 imaging.[J].Neuroimage.2013,64():505-16.
Figures
