Assessment of normal fetal cortical sulcus development

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Prenatal Medicine
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Cortical sulci are key indicators of fetal brain development and maturation.
• Accurate prenatal assessment of sulcal development is crucial for identifying potential neurological abnormalities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate normal cortical sulcus development in fetuses using transabdominal ultrasonography.
• To establish normative data for specific sulcal measurements correlated with gestational age.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study involving 332 pregnant women between 15 and 32 gestational weeks.
• Transabdominal ultrasound was used to measure the lengths of the sylvian, parietooccipital, calcarine, and cingulate sulci.
• Statistical analysis evaluated the correlation between sulcal lengths and gestational age.

Main Results:

• The earliest detection gestational weeks for sylvian, parietooccipital, calcarine, and cingulate sulci were 15, 17, 17, and 25 weeks, respectively.
• A statistically significant positive correlation was observed between gestational age and the length of all measured sulci (p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

• Transabdominal ultrasonography is a viable method for evaluating fetal central nervous system development.
• Prenatal assessment of sulcal development and cortical maturation is feasible with this imaging technique.