Registration-based approach for reconstruction of high-resolution in utero fetal MR brain images.
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.
Rousseau
Francois
F
University Louis Pasteur, LSIIT, Pole API, Bd S. Brant, Illikirch, France. rousseau.@lsiit.ustrasbg.fr
Glenn
Orit A
OA
Iordanova
Bistra
B
Rodriguez-Carranza
Claudia
C
Vigneron
Daniel B
DB
Barkovich
James A
JA
Studholme
Colin
C
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