The effects of maternal flow on placental diffusion-weighted MRI and intravoxel incoherent motion parameters

Purpose: To investigate and explain observed features of the placental DWI signal in healthy and compromised pregnancies using a mathematical model of maternal blood flow.

Methods: Thirteen healthy and nine compromised third trimester pregnancies underwent pulse gradient spin echo DWI MRI, with the results compared to MRI data simulated from a 2D mathematical model of maternal blood flow through the placenta. Both sets of data were fitted to an intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) model, and a rebound model (defined within text), which described voxels that did not decay monotonically. Both the in vivo and simulated placentas were split into regions of interest (ROIs) to analyze how the signal varies and how IVIM and rebounding parameters change across the placental width.

Results: There was good agreement between the in vivo MRI data, and the data simulated from the mathematical model. Both sets of data included voxels showing a rebounding signal and voxels showing fast signal decay focused near the maternal side of the placenta. In vivo we found higher $f_{\text{IVIM}}$ in the uterine wall and near the maternal side of the placenta, with the slow diffusion coefficient $D$ reduced in all ROIs in compromised pregnancy.

Conclusion: A simulation based entirely on maternal blood explains key features observed in placental DWI, indicating the importance of maternal blood flow in interpreting placental MRI data, and providing potential new metrics for understanding changes in compromised placentas.