A comprehensive digital atlas of fetal brain maturation from a large cohort.
By Vijay Kumar MalesuOct 31 2023Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM In a recent study published in Nature, researchers created a comprehensive digital atlas of fetal brain maturation from a large cohort, detailing structural growth and folding from early pregnancy to two years postnatal, and offered a benchmark for typical brain development.
While Magnetic Resonance Imaging studies confirm postmortem data and highlight developmental patterns, they are limited by small sample sizes and inconsistent methods; meanwhile, traditional two-dimensional ultrasound provides insights but lacks comprehensive, large-scale mapping of fetal brain maturation internationally.
The study thoroughly curated high-quality US images, emphasizing discernible brain structures. These images underwent alignment, brain extraction, and structural enhancement using convolutional neural networks and manual adjustments. Study results Volumetric US images from eight international study sites provided a comprehensive look at the fetal brain of humans at a submillimetre resolution. The project incorporated 1,059 3D US volumes from 899 accurately dated fetuses.
To ensure the credibility of the collated image data, meticulous validation processes were employed. Two main strategies, variance component analysis, and standardized mean site differences, revealed only a minute degree of variability that could be traced back to site-based differences.