title: A normative spatiotemporal MRI atlas of the fetal brain for automatic segmentation and analysis of early brain growth.
abstract: Longitudinal characterization of early brain growth in-utero has been limited by a number of challenges in fetal imaging, the rapid change in size, shape and volume of the developing brain, and the consequent lack of suitable algorithms for fetal brain image analysis. There is a need for an improved digital brain atlas of the spatiotemporal maturation of the fetal brain extending over the key developmental periods. We have developed an algorithm for construction of an unbiased four-dimensional atlas of the developing fetal brain by integrating symmetric diffeomorphic deformable registration in space with kernel regression in age. We applied this new algorithm to construct a spatiotemporal atlas from MRI of 81 normal fetuses scanned between 19 and 39 weeks of gestation and labeled the structures of the developing brain. We evaluated the use of this atlas and additional individual fetal brain MRI atlases for completely automatic multi-atlas segmentation of fetal brain MRI. The atlas is available online as a reference for anatomy and for registration and segmentation, to aid in connectivity analysis, and for groupwise and longitudinal analysis of early brain growth.
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. ali.gholipour@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gholipour
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Caitlin K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Rollins
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Clemente
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Velasco-Annis
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Abdelhakim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ouaalam
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Anesthesia, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Akhondi-Asl
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Onur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Afacan
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Department of Pediatrics, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Ortinau
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Sean
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clancy
authors.affiliation: Children's National Medical Center, Department of Diagnostic Imaging Radiology, Washington DC, 20010, USA.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Limperopoulos
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Judy A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Estroff
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Department of Radiology, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Simon K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Warfield
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000254:growth & development; D047109:Fetal Development; D005333:Fetus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis