Advanced magnetic resonance imaging in human placenta: insights into fetal growth restriction and congenital heart disease

Eric Sadiku; Liqun Sun; Christopher K Macgowan; Mike Seed; Janna L Morrison

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2024.1426593

Advanced magnetic resonance imaging in human placenta: insights into fetal growth restriction and congenital heart disease

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2024 Jul 23:11:1426593. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2024.1426593. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Eric Sadiku^{1

2}, Liqun Sun^{1

3}, Christopher K Macgowan^{3

4}, Mike Seed^{1

3

5

6

7}, Janna L Morrison^{4

6

8}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Department of Health Science, Queen University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
³ Translational Medicine Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁵ Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶ Research Institute, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁷ Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁸ Early Origins of Adult Health Research Group, Health and Biomedical Innovation, Clinical and Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.

Abstract

Placental function plays a crucial role in fetal development, as it serves as the primary interface for delivery of nutrients and oxygen from the mother to fetus. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has significantly improved our ability to visualize and understand the placenta's complex structure and function. This review provides an up-to-date examination of the most common and novel placental MRI techniques. It will also discuss the clinical applications of MRI in diagnosing and monitoring placental insufficiency, as well as its implications for fetal growth restriction (FGR) and congenital heart disease (CHD). Ongoing research using multi-parametric MRI techniques aims to develop novel biomarkers and uncover the relationships between placental parameters and pre-onset diseased states, ultimately contributing to better maternal and fetal health outcomes, which is essential to better guide clinical judgement.

Keywords: BOLD; DWI; MRI; SWI; congenital heart disease; fetal growth restriction; human placenta; placenta oxygenation.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.