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Updated: Jan 25, 2026

Assessment of Maternal Vascular Remodeling During Pregnancy in the Mouse Uterus
Published on: December 5, 2015
In vivo assessment of placental microstructure in normal pregnancy and gestational hypertension: An IVIM-based MRI
Yajing Mao1, Jialu Xu2, Shengyi Gu3
1Shanghai Key Laboratory of Embryo Original Diseases, The International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200030, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Shanghai Institute of Maternal Fetal Medicine and Gynecologic Oncology, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China; Department of Obstetrics, Jiading Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Shanghai, 201821, China.
Objective:
Our aim was to evaluate placental function using IVIM diffusion-weighted MRI in both normal pregnancies and gestational hypertension, and develop a combined predictive model for severe fetal growth restriction (sFGR).
Method:
We studied 32 healthy pregnant women and 40 with gestational hypertension (20 with sFGR, 20 without). Five IVIM-based parameters were calculated: perfusion fraction (f), true diffusion coefficient (D), pseudo-diffusion coefficient (D∗), diffusion distribution coefficient (DDC), and superdiffusion index (γ). These parameters were compared between the groups. Predictive efficiency was evaluated using logistic regression analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis.
Results:
Compared to controls, gestational hypertension cases exhibited lower f, D, DDC values and higher γ value (all p < 0.05). Both f value (OR: 0.257, 95 % CI: 0.069-0.957; p = 0.043) and γ value (OR: 0.343, 95 % CI: 0.128-0.918; p = 0.033) independently predicted sFGR. A combined predictive model (f, D∗, DDC and γ) achieved superior prediction (AUC: 0.838).
Conclusion:
IVIM-derived parameters effectively quantify placental microcirculation differences and show strong potential as non-invasive biomarkers for sFGR prediction in gestational hypertension.
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