title: Fetal lung apparent diffusion coefficient measurement using diffusion-weighted MRI at 3 Tesla: Correlation with gestational age.
abstract: To evaluate the feasibility of using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) to assess the fetal lung apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) at 3 Tesla (T).
  
  
  
  Seventy-one pregnant women (32 second trimester, 39 third trimester) were scanned with a twice-refocused Echo-planar diffusion-weighted imaging sequence with 6 different b-values in 3 orthogonal diffusion orientations at 3T. After each scan, a region-of-interest (ROI) mask was drawn to select a region in the fetal lung and an automated robust maximum likelihood estimation algorithm was used to compute the ADC parameter. The amount of motion in each scan was visually rated.
  
  
  
  When scans with unacceptable levels of motion were eliminated, the lung ADC values showed a strong association with gestational age (P < 0.01), increasing dramatically between 16 and 27 weeks and then achieving a plateau around 27 weeks.
  
  
  
  We show that to get reliable estimates of ADC values of fetal lungs, a multiple b-value acquisition, where motion is either corrected or considered, can be performed. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;44:1650-1655.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Onur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Afacan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gholipour
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Robert V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Mulkern
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Advanced Fetal Care Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Carol E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Barnewolt
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Advanced Fetal Care Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Judy A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Estroff
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Advanced Fetal Care Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Susan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Connolly
authors.affiliation: Advanced Fetal Care Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Pediatric Newborn Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Richard B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Parad
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Sigrid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bairdain
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.|Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Simon K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Warfield
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D004058:Diffusion; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: ADC; diffusion MRI; fetal MRI; fetal lung; gestational age; motion artifacts