PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Schmidbauer, Victor U.
AU  - Houech, Intesar-Victoria Malla
AU  - Malik, Jakob
AU  - Watzenboeck, Martin L.
AU  - Mittermaier, Rebecca
AU  - Kienast, Patric
AU  - Haberl, Christina
AU  - Pogledic, Ivana
AU  - Mitter, Christian
AU  - Dovjak, Gregor O.
AU  - Krauskopf, Astrid
AU  - Prayer, Florian
AU  - Stuempflen, Marlene
AU  - Dorittke, Tim
AU  - Gantner, Nikolai A.
AU  - Binder, Julia
AU  - Bettelheim, Dieter
AU  - Kiss, Herbert
AU  - Haberler, Christine
AU  - Gelpi, Ellen
AU  - Prayer, Daniela
AU  - Kasprian, Gregor
TI  - Synthetic MRI and MR Fingerprinting–Derived Relaxometry of Antenatal Human Brainstem Myelination: A Postmortem-Based Quantitative Imaging Study
AID  - 10.3174/ajnr.A8337
DP  - 2024 Sep 01
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
PG  - 1327--1334
VI  - 45
IP  - 9
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/45/9/1327.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/45/9/1327.full
SO  - Am. J. Neuroradiol.2024 Sep 01; 45
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The radiologic evaluation of ongoing myelination is currently limited prenatally. Novel quantitative MR imaging modalities provide relaxometric properties that are linked to myelinogenesis. In this retrospective postmortem imaging study, the capability of Synthetic MR imaging and MR fingerprinting–derived relaxometry for tracking fetal myelin development was investigated. Moreover, the consistency of results for both MR approaches was analyzed.MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 26 cases, quantitative postmortem fetal brain MR data were available (gestational age range, 15 + 1 to 32 + 1; female/male ratio, 14/12). Relaxometric measurements (T1-/T2-relexation times) were determined in the medulla oblongata and the midbrain using Synthetic MR imaging/MR fingerprinting–specific postprocessing procedures (Synthetic MR imaging and MR Robust Quantitative Tool for MR fingerprinting). The Pearson correlations were applied to detect relationships between T1-relaxation times/T2-relaxation times metrics and gestational age at MR imaging. Intraclass correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the consistency of the results provided by both modalities.RESULTS: Both modalities provided quantitative data that revealed negative correlations with gestational age at MR imaging: Synthetic MR imaging–derived relaxation times (medulla oblongata [r = −0.459; P = .021]; midbrain [r = −0.413; P = .040]), T2-relaxation times (medulla oblongata [r = −0.625; P < .001]; midbrain [r = −0.571; P = .003]), and MR fingerprinting–derived T1-relaxation times (medulla oblongata [r = −0.433; P = .035]; midbrain [r = −0.386; P = .062]), and T2-relaxation times (medulla oblongata [r =−0.883; P < .001]; midbrain [r = −0.890; P < .001]).The intraclass correlation coefficient analysis for result consistency between both MR approaches ranged between 0.661 (95% CI, 0.351–0.841) (T2-relaxation times: medulla oblongata) and 0.920 (95% CI, 0.82–0.965) (T1-relaxation times: midbrain).CONCLUSIONS: There is a good-to-excellent consistency between postmortem Synthetic MR imaging and MR fingerprinting myelin quantifications in fetal brains older than 15 + 1 gestational age. The strong correlations between quantitative myelin metrics and gestational age indicate the potential of quantitative MR imaging to identify delayed or abnormal states of myelination at prenatal stages of cerebral development.GAgestational ageICCintraclass correlation coefficientMBPmyelin basic proteinMDMEmultidynamic multiechoMRFMR fingerprintingSSFPsteady-state free precessionT1RT1-relaxation timesT2RT2-relaxation times