Influence of maternal psychological distress during COVID-19 pandemic on placental morphometry and texture.

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been accompanied by increased prenatal maternal distress (PMD). PMD is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes which may be mediated by the placenta. However, the potential impact of the pandemic on in vivo placental development remains unknown.

Maternal psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic and structural changes of the human fetal brain.

Background: Elevated maternal psychological distress during pregnancy is linked to adverse outcomes in offspring. The potential effects of intensified levels of maternal distress during the COVID-19 pandemic on the developing fetal brain are currently unknown.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 202 pregnant women: 65 without known COVID-19 exposures during the pandemic who underwent 92 fetal MRI scans, and 137 pre-pandemic controls who had 182 MRI scans.

Measuring intrauterine growth in healthy pregnancies using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine in utero fetal-placental growth patterns using in vivo three-dimensional (3D) quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI).

Study Design: Healthy women with singleton pregnancies underwent fetal MRI to measure fetal body, placenta, and amniotic space volumes. The fetal-placental ratio (FPR) was derived using 3D fetal body and placental volumes (PV).

Normative placental structure in pregnancy using quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Introduction: To characterize normative morphometric, textural and microstructural placental development by applying advanced and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (qMRI) techniques to the in-vivo placenta.

Methods: We enrolled 195 women with uncomplicated, healthy singleton pregnancies in a prospective observational study. Women underwent MRI between 16- and 40-weeks' gestation.

Non-invasive measurement of biochemical profiles in the healthy fetal brain.

Unlabelled: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) of the fetal brain can be used to study emerging metabolite profiles in the developing brain. Identifying early deviations in brain metabolic profiles in high-risk fetuses may offer important adjunct clinical information to improve surveillance and management during pregnancy.

Objective: To investigate the normative trajectory of the fetal brain metabolites during the second half of gestation, and to determine the impact of using different Cramer-Rao Lower Bounds (CRLB) threshold on metabolite measurements using magnetic resonance spectroscopy.