title: Registration-based approach for reconstruction of high-resolution in utero fetal MR brain images.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This paper describes a novel approach to forming high-resolution MR images of the human fetal brain. It addresses the key problem of fetal motion by proposing a registration-refined compounding of multiple sets of orthogonal fast two-dimensional MRI slices, which are currently acquired for clinical studies, into a single high-resolution MRI volume.
  
  
  METHODS
  A robust multiresolution slice alignment is applied iteratively to the data to correct motion of the fetus that occurs between two-dimensional acquisitions. This is combined with an intensity correction step and a super-resolution reconstruction step, to form a single high isotropic resolution volume of the fetal brain.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Experimental validation on synthetic image data with known motion types and underlying anatomy, together with retrospective application to sets of clinical acquisitions, are included.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results indicate that this method promises a unique route to acquiring high-resolution MRI of the fetal brain in vivo allowing comparable quality to that of neonatal MRI. Such data provide a highly valuable window into the process of normal and abnormal brain development, which is directly applicable in a clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: University Louis Pasteur, LSIIT, Pole API, Bd S. Brant, Illikirch, France. rousseau.@lsiit.ustrasbg.fr
authors.forename: Francois
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rousseau
authors.forename: Orit A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Glenn
authors.forename: Bistra
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Iordanova
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Carranza
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Vigneron
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Barkovich
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Studholme
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016477:Artifacts; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000196:embryology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique