New paper published in Human Brain Mapping
Our team’s paper, “Cross‑Modality Comparison of Fetal Brain Phenotypes: Insights From Short‑Interval Second‑Trimester MRI and Ultrasound Imaging,” has been accepted by Human Brain Mapping.
What we did
We compared volumes of eight fetal brain structures from 90 pregnancies with paired MRI and 3D ultrasound acquired mostly on the same day (mean gap 1.2 days; max 4 days). Volumes were computed using automated deep‑learning pipelines.
Key findings
- Strong agreement across modalities for the cerebellum, cavum septum pellucidum, thalamus, and white/deep grey matter (good–excellent ICCs and high correlations).
- Systematic bias for intracranial volume and the cortical plate: on average, ultrasound yielded larger values than MRI for these structures.
- Limited comparability for the ventricular system and brainstem, reflecting modality‑specific appearance and field‑of‑view differences.
Why it matters
Second‑trimester neuroimaging underpins anomaly screening. Our results show where MRI and ultrasound measurements can be pooled confidently, and where modality‑aware adjustments are needed for robust clinical and research use.
Team & support
A collaboration between the University of Oxford (Department of Computer Science), King’s College London, City, University of London, and the Athinoula A. Martinos Center / Harvard Medical School, with support from the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust/EPSRC iFIND, the Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Medical Engineering, and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at Guy’s and St Thomas’.
Read the paper: {DOI 10.1002/hbm.70349}. Open Access under CC BY 4.0.