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01-07-2021 | Original Article

Mapping fetal brain development based on automated segmentation and 4D brain atlasing

Authors: Haotian Li, Guohui Yan, Wanrong Luo, Tingting Liu, Yan Wang, Ruibin Liu, Weihao Zheng, Yi Zhang, Kui Li, Li Zhao, Catherine Limperopoulos, Yu Zou, Dan Wu

Published in: Brain Structure and Function | Issue 6/2021

Abstract

Fetal brain MRI has become an important tool for in utero assessment of brain development and disorders. However, quantitative analysis of fetal brain MRI remains difficult, partially due to the limited tools for automated preprocessing and the lack of normative brain templates. In this paper, we proposed an automated pipeline for fetal brain extraction, super-resolution reconstruction, and fetal brain atlasing to quantitatively map in utero fetal brain development during mid-to-late gestation in a Chinese population. First, we designed a U-net convolutional neural network for automated fetal brain extraction, which achieved an average accuracy of 97%. We then generated a developing fetal brain atlas, using an iterative linear and nonlinear registration approach. Based on the 4D spatiotemporal atlas, we quantified the morphological development of the fetal brain between 23 and 36 weeks of gestation. The proposed pipeline enabled the fully automated volumetric reconstruction for clinically available fetal brain MRI data, and the 4D fetal brain atlas provided normative templates for the quantitative characterization of fetal brain development, especially in the Chinese population.

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Title: Mapping fetal brain development based on automated segmentation and 4D brain atlasing
Authors: Haotian Li
Guohui Yan
Wanrong Luo
Tingting Liu
Yan Wang
Ruibin Liu
Weihao Zheng
Yi Zhang
Kui Li
Li Zhao
Catherine Limperopoulos
Yu Zou
Dan Wu
Publication date: 01-07-2021
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Brain Structure and Function / Issue 6/2021
Print ISSN: 1863-2653
Electronic ISSN: 1863-2661
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-021-02303-x

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Mapping fetal brain development based on automated segmentation and 4D brain atlasing

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