Feto-placental oxygenation and brain development in fetal growth restriction

State-of-the-art machine learning algorithms were applied to create MRI 3D super-resolution reconstructions of fetal brains to analyse brain development in fetal growth restriction. Reconstructions were segmented into the grey matter, white matter, deep grey matter, cerebellum and brainstem, and volumetric and cortical surface data was extracted. We found that the five brain regions segmented were significantly smaller in the FGR cohort than in controls, and that this effect was linked to feto-placental blood oxygen saturation. FGR fetuses showed evidence of brain sparing from MRI and ultrasound measurements and preservation of tissue relationships, such as the grey:white matter ratio.