Harnessing the Power of Advanced Fetal Neuroimaging to Understand In Utero Footprints for Later Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Asis-Cruz, Josepheen De; Limperopoulos, Catherine

doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2022.11.019

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 133 publications

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“…Beyond increased field strength, advances in MR technology and analytics have enabled new applications, including detection of the microstructural environment, regional indices of dopaminergic and noradrenergic function, and changes in neurochemical metabolites. In fetal imaging, advances in image acquisition, such as multiband imaging or simultaneous multi slice approaches, which reduce acquisition times and enhance SNR, help address fetal motion and improve quantification of brain structure, diffusion, function, and metabolism during this critical neurodevelopmental period [13]. Fetal brain imaging offers the potential to identify altered and normative neurodevelopmental brain trajectories that likely impact future mental health with the hope of predicting risk in utero.…”

Section: Novel Mr Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

NIMH perspectives on future directions in neuroimaging for mental health

Wijtenburg,

Rowland,

Vicentic

et al. 2024

Neuropsychopharmacol.

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NIMH’s mission is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery, and cure. New imaging techniques hold great promise for improving our understanding of the pathophysiology of mental illnesses, stratifying patients for treatment selection, and developing a personalized medicine approach. Here, we highlight emerging and promising new technologies that are likely to be vital in helping NIMH accomplish its mission, the potential for utilizing multimodal approaches to study mental illness, and considerations for data analytics and data sharing.

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Section: Novel Mr Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

NIMH perspectives on future directions in neuroimaging for mental health

Wijtenburg,

Rowland,

Vicentic

et al. 2024

Neuropsychopharmacol.

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“…Resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) can be a powerful imaging technique for studying the functional development of the brain in utero [7]. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) provides a noninvasive means to detect and measure brain tissue metabolites [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced neuroimaging in the fetal brain: An update on technical advances and clinical findings

Ren

Dong

2023

iRADIOLOGY

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is widely used to provide detailed information regarding fetal brain development in utero. Conventional T1-and T2weighted sequences provide anatomical details of the normal brain and demonstrate brain lesions. In addition to providing highly detailed qualitative assessments of fetal brain development, advanced MRI methods such as threedimensional high-resolution MRI, diffusion MRI, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and functional MRI can provide quantitative morphologic assessments of tissue microstructure and functional activity. This review aims to describe normal fetal brain development and highlight current state-of-the-art MRI sequences for fetal neuroimaging. We focus on current clinical applications which can provide a better understanding of in utero impairments in fetal brain development.

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“…In-utero fetal MRI has emerged as a crucial diagnostic tool for evaluating normal and pathological brain development [1]. High-resolution imaging of the fetal brains in utero can quantitatively characterize the spatiotemporal developmental trajectory of the fetal brain and thus provide the normative template for identifying high-risk fetuses before birth [2]. However, obtaining fetal brain MRI is often challenging due to the challenges in image acquisition related to fetal and maternal motions, patient recruitment, and the additional complexity of volumetric reconstruction required before quantification [3], resulting in smaller sample sizes and inconsistent findings in fetal brain MRI studies [4][5][6][7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Site Effects in Multisite Fetal Brain MRI: Morphological Insights into Early Brain Development

Xu,

Sun,

et al. 2023

Preprint

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BackgroundMultisite MRI studies have become prevalent given their advantage in revealing reliable biological or clinical findings. Adult and adolescent multisite studies have demonstrated inevitable site-related non-biological effects that introduce bias. However, the site effect on fetal brain MRI remains unknown.PurposeTo identify crucial acquisition factors affecting fetal brain structural measurements and developmental patterns, while assessing the effectiveness of existing harmonization methods in mitigating site effects.Materials and MethodsBetween May 2017 and March 2022, T2-weighted fast spin-echo sequences in-utero MRI were performed in healthy fetuses from prospectively recruited pregnant volunteers on four different scanners at four sites. A generalized additive model (GAM) was used to quantitatively assess site effects, including field strength (FS), manufacture (M), in-plane resolution (R), and slice thickness (ST), on subcortical volume and cortical morphological measurements, including cortical thickness, curvature, and sulcal depth. Growth models were selected to elucidate developmental trajectories of these morphological measurements. Welch’s test was performed to evaluate the influence of site effects on developmental trajectories. ComBat-GAM harmonization method was applied to mitigate site-related biases.ResultsThe final analytic sample consisted of 340 MRI scans from 218 fetuses (mean gestational age, 30.1 weeks ± 4.4 [range, 21.7–40 weeks]). GAM results showed that low FS and low spatial resolution led to overestimations in selected brain regions of subcortical volumes and cortical morphological measurements, and cortical measurements were more susceptible to site effects than subcortical volumes. Only the peak cortical thickness in developmental trajectories was significantly influenced by the effects of FS and R. Notably, ComBat-GAM harmonization effectively removed site effects while preserving developmental patterns.ConclusionOur findings pinpointed the key acquisition factors in in-utero fetal brain MRI and underscored the necessity of data harmonization when pooling multisite data for fetal brain morphology investigations.

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Harnessing the Power of Advanced Fetal Neuroimaging to Understand In Utero Footprints for Later Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Cited by 13 publications

References 133 publications

NIMH perspectives on future directions in neuroimaging for mental health

NIMH perspectives on future directions in neuroimaging for mental health

Advanced neuroimaging in the fetal brain: An update on technical advances and clinical findings

Site Effects in Multisite Fetal Brain MRI: Morphological Insights into Early Brain Development

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