RETROSPECTIVE CORRECTION OF MOTION INDUCED ARTIFACTS IN 1H MAGNETIC RESONANCE SPECTROSCOPY OF THE FETAL BRAIN

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and spectroscopy of the fetal brain in utero are increasingly performed in the 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy to complement obstetric ultrasound in high-risk pregnancies. MR offers a great potential to study brain development in vivo despite a number of challenges including maternal breathing, fetal movement, long acquisition times, low spatial resolution and signal to noise. Acquired fetal MR data are often of poor quality compared to adult ones further impeding quantification. Here we present an optimized acquisition scheme with a retrospective correction methodology of motion induced artifacts for H-1 MR spectroscopy of the fetal brain that recovers lost signal from the spectra and improves metabolite concentration quantification by lowering the standard deviation of uncertainty.