The effects of maternal flow on placental DWI data

Placental diffusion imaging data is assumed to be driven by a combination of slow diffusive processes, as well as faster incoherent terms. How these faster incoherent terms combine within a voxel is not obvious, and here we investigate this further by comparing a mathematical simulation of maternal flow through a single placentone to data collected in utero. We observe maternal flows can cause IVIM like effects, with slow exponential decays, but also regions of fast IVIM similar to those observed in the placenta, as well as 'rebounding' of signal.