Journal Article

Cross‐Modality Comparison of Fetal Brain Phenotypes: Insights From Short‐Interval Second‐Trimester MRI and Ultrasound Imaging

Kyriakopoulou, Vanessa, Uus, Alena, Matthew, Jacqueline, Hajnal, Joseph, Namburete, Ana I. L., Zöllei, Lilla, Dinsdale, Nicola K., Skelton, Emily, Wyburd, Madeleine K., Venturini, Lorenzo, Wright, Robert

2025

Overview

Advances in fetal three‐dimensional (3D) ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have revolutionized the study of fetal brain development, enabling detailed analysis of brain structures and growth. Despite their complementary capabilities, these modalities capture fundamentally different physical signals, potentially leading to systematic differences in image‐derived phenotypes (IDPs). Here, we evaluate the agreement of IDPs between US and MRI by comparing the volumes of eight brain structures from 90 subjects derived using deep‐learning algorithms from majority same‐day imaging (days between scans: mean = 1.2, mode = 0 and max = 4). Excellent agreement (intra‐class correlation coefficient, ICC>0.75 $$ ICC>0.75 $$ ) was observed for the cerebellum, cavum septum pellucidum, thalamus, white matter and deep grey matter volumes, with significant correlations p<0.001 $$ \\left(p<0.001\\right) $$for most structures, except the ventricular system. Bland–Altman analysis revealed some systematic biases: intracranial and cortical plate volumes were larger on US than MRI, by an average of 35cm3 $$ 35\\ {\\mathrm{cm}}^3 $$and 4.1cm3 $$ 4.1\\ {\\mathrm{cm}}^3 $$ , respectively. Finally, we found the labels of the brainstem and ventricular system were not comparable between the modalities. These findings highlight the necessity of structure‐specific adjustments when interpreting fetal brain IPDs across modalities and underscore the complementary roles of US and MRI in advancing fetal neuroimaging. This study investigates the agreement of image derived‐phenotypes (IDPs) from eight fetal brain structures derived from same‐day MRI and 3D US volumes. Strong agreement was observed for the CSP, Th, CB, WMDGM, whereas, systematic biases were revealed for ICV and CoP.

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc
• Subject: Adult / Brain - diagnostic imaging / Brain - embryology / Deep Learning / Female / Fetus - diagnostic imaging / Humans / Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods / Magnetic Resonance Imaging - standards / Neuroimaging - methods / Neuroimaging - standards / Phenotype / Pregnancy / Pregnancy Trimester, Second / Ultrasonography, Prenatal - methods / Ultrasonography, Prenatal - standards