Normative volumetric growth modeling of the whole fetal body, placenta, and amniotic fluid for three-dimensional T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.
Automated pipeline segments fetal magnetic resonance imaging volumes with near-perfect accuracy
Normative volumetric growth modeling of the whole fetal body, placenta, and amniotic fluid for three-dimensional T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.
Magnetic resonance imaging (magnetic resonance imaging)-based volumetry of the fetus, placenta, and amniotic fluid is clinically valuable but rarely used due to labor-intensive manual segmentation of motion-corrupted two-dimensional (2-D) stacks.
To develop an automated pipeline for whole-uterus volumetry in 3-D T2-weighted fetal magnetic resonance imaging and derive normative growth models for fetal, placental, and amniotic fluid volumes.
Motion-corrupted T2-weighted stacks (0.55-3-T field strength) were reconstructed into 3-D isotropic images using deformable slice-to-volume reconstruction, followed by automated segmentation with a 3-D U-Net.
In the control cohort, fetal and placental volumes increased with gestational age (P<0.001), while amniotic fluid followed a quadratic trend.
Longitudinal growth rates were 146.6 cc/week (fetus) and 38.8 cc/week (placenta).
Preterm pregnancies showed significantly lower fetal and placental volumes (P<0.001) and reduced amniotic fluid (P<0.01).
This work presents the first automated pipeline for simultaneous whole-uterus volumetry in 3-D fetal magnetic resonance imaging and establishes normative growth models across gestation.
The approach enables accurate, standardized volumetric assessment and provides a practical tool for detecting abnormal growth patterns in both normal and high-risk pregnancies.