Normative spatiotemporal fetal brain maturation with satisfactory development at 2 years

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Biology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Optimal human fetal brain maturation requires precise structural growth and cerebral cortex folding.
• Existing atlases lack the detailed anatomical resolution of deep grey matter structures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a normative digital atlas of fetal brain maturation.
• To provide a spatiotemporal benchmark of fetal brain development from 14 to 31 weeks' gestation.
• To quantify intracranial volume variability and growth patterns.

Main Methods:

• Utilized 1,059 3D ultrasound brain volumes from 899 fetuses in a prospective international cohort.
• Employed an automated analysis pipeline for atlas generation.
• Validated findings using 1,487 3D brain volumes from 1,295 additional fetuses.

Main Results:

• Generated an average representation of each cerebral hemisphere with detailed deep grey matter anatomy.
• Quantified intracranial volume variability and growth patterns.
• Detected emergent brain asymmetries from 14 weeks' gestation, peaking between 20-26 weeks in language-associated regions.

Conclusions:

• The developed atlas serves as a unique spatiotemporal benchmark for fetal brain maturation.
• The atlas demonstrates normative patterns of brain growth and the emergence of asymmetries.
• Findings support the use of pooled data from multiple sites for robust normative atlases.