New Fetal Scan Algorithm!

As we all know, fetal development is usually monitored through ultrasounds. This is an inexpensive, portable method that assesses blood flow in the placenta. But what if there was another method that had more diagnostic benefits?

Well, turns out there is! Researchers from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory are working with researchers from Boston Children's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital on a new project using MRI's to evaluate fetus health. The MRI can measure oxygen absorption rates in the placenta and identify any placental disorders that could put the fetus in danger.

An ultrasound looks at fetal growth and velocities of waveforms in the umbilical arteries, but these do not directly measure the function of the placenta. Researchers are attempting to come up with a method to assess spatiotemporal function of the placenta so that if they have to intervene, they can do so before the placenta fails.   

The researchers have created an algorithm that analyzes MRI scans and corrects for very small motions that can occur during an MRI, taking into account the possible movement of the baby. It tracks organs through a sequence of MRI scans. An MRI image is made up of hundreds of 2D cross sections of the body, which put together become a 3D image. To measure the chemical changes, scientists analyze sequences of about 300 of these 3D images frame by frame, image by image. Because of possible movements of the fetus during the MRI that doctors cannot control, it is not as easy to compare frame by frame as the fetus can move dramatically between frames. This is where the new algorithm comes in...

The algorithm creates a mathematical function that maps the pixels from the first frame to the second frame, then to the third, etc. The end result is a series of mathematical functions that describe the movement of the scan. After the computer has calculated the mathematical functions, a human draws boundaries around organs and things of interest in the first frame. The movement of these boundaries can then be calculated using the mathematical operations defined earlier. The human only has to define the boundaries around organs and things of interest for the first frame, then the computer does the rest for the following frames. This saves humans a lot of time and really tough work! One of the major problems with MRI's is dealing with motion, so the ability to account for that and still be able to use MRI analysis is a huge step! 

Check out this MRI clip of a fetus! The algorithm made it possible to correct for small movements of the fetus! So rad! --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djJnsC_CddI&feature=youtu.be

References: 

http://phys.org/news/2016-10-algorithm-fetal-scans-interventions-warranted.html

https://kingsimaging.wordpress.com/page/2/