Assessment of Placental Blood Flow Using a Navigator Echo Respiratory Gated Parallel Imaging Technique at 1.5 T

Loredana Sorina Truica¹, Ian Cameron, ^1,2, Leonard I. Avruch², Andre Gruslin²

IVIM measurements of normal placenta at 1.5 T using a respiratory triggered DW_SS_EPI sequence are reported. Improvements in the acquisition and analysis techniques used in this study allowed us to obtain more consistent results for the perfusion fraction, f, the diffusion coefficient, D, and the pseudo-diffusion coefficient, D*, than previous studies. Parameter maps of D and f were reflective of placental structure and composition. Such maps can be useful tools in identifying tissue differences and give important insight into the placental hemodynamic systems. This technique could become instrumental in the assessment and management of abnormal pregnancies.