Keywords:
Performed at one institution, Experimental, Retrospective, Foetus, Statistics, Imaging sequences, Computer Applications-General, MR-Diffusion/Perfusion, MR, Lung, Kidney, Foetal imaging, Paediatric
Authors:
G. ercolani1, A. Antonelli2, V. celli1, R. Petrillo2, L. Manganaro2, C. Catalano2; 1Roma/IT, 2Rome/IT
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2020/C-09770
Purpose
The aim of our study was to investigate the use of IntraVoxel Incoerent Motion (IVIM) model in the study of physiological microstructural tissue changes in terms of perfusion and diffusion qualities, occurring in fetal lungs and kidneys during gestation.
We know that fetal lungs increase in volume during gestation proportionally to fetal body size, increase in T2W signal and decrease in T1W signal with gestational age (GE). DWI properties of lung parenchyma are predominantly influenced by the maturational changes of intrapulmonary fluid content and can be used in addition to T2W signal to assess lung maturation.
Regarding fetal kidneys maturation, renal cortex and medulla become more differentiated during gestation. DWI proved to be an additional tool to identify renal parenchyma, particularly if it is not in the expected location. Introduced by Le Bihan to study perfusion phenomena in biological tissues, IVIM model is a particular kind of DWI sequence that allows to quantify separately perfusion compartment (perfusion fraction f and pseudo-diffusion D*) by diffusion coefficient D, using more low b-values than standard diffusion sequence.
In this context, IntraVoxel Incoherent Motion imaging (IVIM) could be an appropriate method to study both micro-perfusion and microstructural tissue changes occurring in renal and lung parenchyma during prenatal life.