Assessment of fetal corpus callosum biometry by 3D super-resolution reconstructed T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging

Samuel Lamon; Priscille de Dumast; Thomas Sanchez; Vincent Dunet; Léo Pomar; Yvan Vial; Mériam Koob; Meritxell Bach Cuadra

doi:10.3389/fneur.2024.1358741

Assessment of fetal corpus callosum biometry by 3D super-resolution reconstructed T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging

Front Neurol. 2024 Mar 26:15:1358741. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1358741. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Samuel Lamon^{1

2

3}, Priscille de Dumast^{1

2}, Thomas Sanchez^{1

2}, Vincent Dunet¹, Léo Pomar^{3

4}, Yvan Vial³, Mériam Koob¹, Meritxell Bach Cuadra^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
² CIBM Center for Biomedical Imaging, Lausanne, Switzerland.
³ Ultrasound and Fetal Medicine, Department Woman-Mother-Child, Lausanne University Hospital and Lausanne University, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ School of Health Sciences (HESAV), University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the accuracy of corpus callosum (CC) biometry, including sub-segments, using 3D super-resolution fetal brain MRI (SR) compared to 2D or 3D ultrasound (US) and clinical low-resolution T2-weighted MRI (T2WS).

Method: Fetal brain biometry was conducted by two observers on 57 subjects [21-35 weeks of gestational age (GA)], including 11 cases of partial CC agenesis. Measures were performed by a junior observer (obs1) on US, T2WS and SR and by a senior neuroradiologist (obs2) on T2WS and SR. CC biometric regression with GA was established. Statistical analysis assessed agreement within and between modalities and observers.

Results: This study shows robust SR to US concordance across gestation, surpassing T2WS. In obs1, SR aligns with US, except for genu and CC length (CCL), enhancing splenium visibility. In obs2, SR closely corresponds to US, differing in rostrum and CCL. The anterior CC (rostrum and genu) exhibits higher variability. SR's regression aligns better with literature (US) for CCL, splenium and body than T2WS. SR is the method with the least missing values.

Conclusion: SR yields CC biometry akin to US (excluding anterior CC). Thanks to superior 3D visualization and better through plane spatial resolution, SR allows to perform CC biometry more frequently than T2WS.

Keywords: agenesis of the corpus callosum; biometry; corpus callosum; corpus callosum segments; fetal brain; magnetic resonance imaging; super-resolution reconstruction; ultrasound.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (projects 205321- 182602 and 203977) and by ERA-NET Neuron MULTI-FACT project (SNSF 31NE30_203977).