Extraction of the Utero-Placental and Fetal Vasculature using 2D Time-of-Flight Imaging

Mapping the vasculature, flow and tissue properties of the placenta and umbilical cord can serve as a means to study placental and fetal health. The goal of this work is to use a rapid, multi-echo, interleaved GRE sequence to minimize motion artifacts and cover the entire abdomen of the mother in a few minutes. To better map out the vasculature, we propose to both separate the arteries and veins in the umbilical cord using an R2* mapping thresholding technique and use vessel tracking to create 3D renderings. We have successfully done this in a series of 10 fetuses.