Placental MR Imaging in Fetuses with Placental Insufficiency

Yoshimitsu Ohgiya¹, Hiroshi Nobusawa², Noritaka Seino¹, Makoto Saiki¹, Yui Onoda¹, Jumpei Suyama¹, Masanori Hirose¹, Takehiko Gokan¹

The purpose of this study was to evaluate morphologic and signal intensity changes of placental insufficiency on MR imaging and to assess value of morphologic changes and decreased flow voids (FVs) on T2-weight RARE MR imaging for diagnosing placental insufficiency. The use of decreased FVs in addition to globular appearances increased sensitivity for the detection of placental insufficiency from 76.0% to 88.0%, increased accuracy from 78.0% to 82.0%, and preserved specificity at 76.0%. Evaluating FVs on T2-weighted RARE images can be useful for detecting placental insufficiency, particularly in placentas without globular appearances on MR imaging.