T and T measurements of the neonatal brain at 7 T.

Purpose: To determine the expected range of NMR relaxation times (T and T) in the neonatal brain at 7 T.

Methods: Data were acquired in a total of 40 examinations on infants in natural sleep. The cohort included 34 unique subjects with postmenstrual age range between 33 and 52 weeks and contained a mix of healthy individuals and those with clinical concerns.

Automated Craniofacial Biometry with 3D T2w Fetal MRI.

Objectives: Evaluating craniofacial phenotype-genotype correlations prenatally is increasingly important; however, it is subjective and challenging with 3D ultrasound. We developed an automated landmark propagation pipeline using 3D motion-corrected, slice-to-volume reconstructed (SVR) fetal MRI for craniofacial measurements.

Methods: A literature review and expert consensus identified 31 craniofacial biometrics for fetal MRI.

Characterizing T1 in the fetal brain and placenta over gestational age at 0.55T.

Purpose: T1 mapping and T1-weighted contrasts have a complimentary but currently under utilized role in fetal MRI. Emerging clinical low field scanners are ideally suited for fetal T1 mapping. The advantages are lower T1 values which results in higher efficiency and reduced field inhomogeneities resulting in a decreased requirement for specialist tools.

Fully automated planning for anatomical fetal brain MRI on 0.55T.

Purpose: Widening the availability of fetal MRI with fully automatic real-time planning of radiological brain planes on 0.55T MRI.

Methods: Deep learning-based detection of key brain landmarks on a whole-uterus echo planar imaging scan enables the subsequent fully automatic planning of the radiological single-shot Turbo Spin Echo acquisitions.

Automated body organ segmentation, volumetry and population-averaged atlas for 3D motion-corrected T2-weighted fetal body MRI.

Structural fetal body MRI provides true 3D information required for volumetry of fetal organs. However, current clinical and research practice primarily relies on manual slice-wise segmentation of raw T2-weighted stacks, which is time consuming, subject to inter- and intra-observer bias and affected by motion-corruption. Furthermore, there are no existing standard guidelines defining a universal approach to parcellation of fetal organs.

Craniofacial phenotyping with fetal MRI: a feasibility study of 3D visualisation, segmentation, surface-rendered and physical models.

This study explores the potential of 3D Slice-to-Volume Registration (SVR) motion-corrected fetal MRI for craniofacial assessment, traditionally used only for fetal brain analysis. In addition, we present the first description of an automated pipeline based on 3D Attention UNet trained for 3D fetal MRI craniofacial segmentation, followed by surface refinement. Results of 3D printing of selected models are also presented.

High resolution and contrast 7 tesla MR brain imaging of the neonate.

Introduction: Ultra-high field MR imaging offers marked gains in signal-to-noise ratio, spatial resolution, and contrast which translate to improved pathological and anatomical sensitivity. These benefits are particularly relevant for the neonatal brain which is rapidly developing and sensitive to injury. However, experience of imaging neonates at 7T has been limited due to regulatory, safety, and practical considerations.

Development of neonatal-specific sequences for portable ultralow field magnetic resonance brain imaging: a prospective, single-centre, cohort study.

Background: Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging is key for investigation of suspected newborn brain abnormalities. Access is limited in low-resource settings and challenging in infants needing intensive care. Portable ultralow field (ULF) MRI is showing promise in bedside adult brain imaging.

Perioperative Brain Injury in Relation to Early Neurodevelopment Among Children with Severe Congenital Heart Disease: Results from a European Collaboration.

Objective: To examine the relationship between perioperative brain injury and neurodevelopment during early childhood in patients with severe congenital heart disease (CHD).

Study Design: One hundred and seventy children with CHD and born at term who required cardiopulmonary bypass surgery in the first 6 weeks after birth were recruited from 3 European centers and underwent preoperative and postoperative brain MRIs. Uniform description of imaging findings was performed and an overall brain injury score was created, based on the sum of the worst preoperative or postoperative brain injury subscores.

Reliability and Feasibility of Low-Field-Strength Fetal MRI at 0.55 T during Pregnancy.

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.

Clinical value of placental examination for paediatricians.

The placenta contains valuable clinical information that is linked to fetal development, neonatal morbidity and mortality, and future health outcomes. Both gross inspection and histopathological examination of the placenta may identify intrinsic or secondary placental lesions, which can contribute directly to adverse neonatal outcomes or indicate the presence of an unfavourable intrauterine environment. Placental examination therefore forms an essential component of the care of high-risk neonates and at perinatal post-mortem examination.

An automated pipeline for quantitative T2* fetal body MRI and segmentation at low field.

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).

Individual Assessment of Perioperative Brain Growth Trajectories in Infants With Congenital Heart Disease: Correlation With Clinical and Surgical Risk Factors.

Background Infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at risk of neurodevelopmental impairments, which may be associated with impaired brain growth. We characterized how perioperative brain growth in infants with CHD deviates from typical trajectories and assessed the relationship between individualized perioperative brain growth and clinical risk factors. Methods and Results A total of 36 infants with CHD underwent preoperative and postoperative brain magnetic resonance imaging.

3D T2w fetal body MRI: automated organ volumetry, growth charts and population-averaged atlas.

Structural fetal body MRI provides true 3D information required for volumetry of fetal organs. However, current clinical and research practice primarily relies on manual slice-wise segmentation of raw T2-weighted stacks, which is time consuming, subject to inter- and intra-observer bias and affected by motion-corruption. Furthermore, there are no existing standard guidelines defining a universal approach to parcellation of fetal organs.

Maturational networks of human fetal brain activity reveal emerging connectivity patterns prior to ex-utero exposure.

A key feature of the fetal period is the rapid emergence of organised patterns of spontaneous brain activity. However, characterising this process in utero using functional MRI is inherently challenging and requires analytical methods which can capture the constituent developmental transformations. Here, we introduce a novel analytical framework, termed "maturational networks" (matnets), that achieves this by modelling functional networks as an emerging property of the developing brain.

Comprehensive volumetric phenotyping of the neonatal brain in Down syndrome.

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability with a wide range of neurodevelopmental outcomes. To date, there have been very few in vivo neuroimaging studies of the neonatal brain in DS. In this study we used a cross-sectional sample of 493 preterm- to term-born control neonates from the developing Human Connectome Project to perform normative modeling of regional brain tissue volumes from 32 to 46 weeks postmenstrual age, accounting for sex and age variables.

Brain white-matter changes associated with symptomatic acute COVID-19 infection in the neonatal period.

We report an important case of periventricular white matter damage in a 1-month-old infant, demonstrated on high quality structural (T2) and diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging. The infant was born at term following an uneventful pregnancy and discharged home shortly after, but was brought to the paediatric emergency department five days after birth with seizures and respiratory distress, testing positive for COVID-19 infection on PCR. These images highlight the need to consider brain MRI in all infants with symptomatic SARS-Cov-2 infection, and show how this infection can lead to extensive white matter damage in the context of multisystem inflammation.

Characterisation of placental, fetal brain and maternal cardiac structure and function in pre-eclampsia using MRI.

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.

BOUNTI: Brain vOlumetry and aUtomated parcellatioN for 3D feTal MRI.

Fetal MRI is widely used for quantitative brain volumetry studies. However, currently, there is a lack of universally accepted protocols for fetal brain parcellation and segmentation. Published clinical studies tend to use different segmentation approaches that also reportedly require significant amounts of time-consuming manual refinement.

Spatiotemporal tissue maturation of thalamocortical pathways in the human fetal brain.

The development of connectivity between the thalamus and maturing cortex is a fundamental process in the second half of human gestation, establishing the neural circuits that are the basis for several important brain functions. In this study, we acquired high-resolution in utero diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from 140 fetuses as part of the Developing Human Connectome Project, to examine the emergence of thalamocortical white matter over the second to third trimester. We delineate developing thalamocortical pathways and parcellate the fetal thalamus according to its cortical connectivity using diffusion tractography.

Characterisation of ASD traits among a cohort of children with isolated fetal ventriculomegaly.

Fetal ventriculomegaly is the most common antenatally-diagnosed brain abnormality. Imaging studies in antenatal isolated ventriculomegaly demonstrate enlarged ventricles and cortical overgrowth which are also present in children with autism-spectrum disorder/condition (ASD). We investigate the presence of ASD traits in a cohort of children (n = 24 [20 males/4 females]) with isolated fetal ventriculomegaly, compared with 10 controls (n = 10 [6 males/4 females]).