ADC values as a biomarker of fetal brain maturation

Abstract

During the period of fetal development, myelination plays a key role and follows specific time and spatial sequences. The water content in the brain is inversely proportional to myelination – the more myelinated the brain, the lower the water content in it. The diffusion of water molecules can be quantitatively assessed using the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). We were interested in whether, by determining the ADC values, we could quantitatively evaluate the development of the fetal brain.

Keywords

• myelination
• fetal brain maturation
• adc
• biomarker
• diffusion-weighted imaging
• diffusion