Isaac Huen1,2, David M. Morris1,2,
Caroline Wright3, Colin P. Sibley3, Edward Johnstone3,
Josephine H. Naish1,2
1Imaging Sciences &
Biomedical Engineering, School of Cancer & Imaging Sciences, University
of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom; 2The University of
Manchester Biomedical Imaging Institute, University of Manchester,
Manchester, United Kingdom; 3Maternal & Fetal Health Research
Centre, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
Preeclampsia and Fetal Growth Restriction are complications of pregnancy, which cause considerable fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The oxygen environment of the placenta may be a cause. Existing techniques to investigate placental oxygenation are invasive and cannot be used to monitor pregnancy. A non-invasive technique, Oxygen-Enhanced MRI (OE-MRI), quantifies changes in partial pressure of dissolved oxygen. We successfully implement OE-MRI in the placenta for the first time, obtaining placental oxygenation data during normal pregnancy. This has the potential to investigate oxygen transport in placental complications and improve the understanding of their aetiology.