Advanced magnetic resonance imaging detects altered placental development in pregnancies affected by congenital heart disease

Cromb, Daniel, Slator, Paddy J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6967-989X, Hall, Megan, Price, Anthony, Alexander, Daniel C., Counsell, Serena J. and Hutter, Jana 2024. Advanced magnetic resonance imaging detects altered placental development in pregnancies affected by congenital heart disease. Scientific Reports 14 (1) , 12357. 10.1038/s41598-024-63087-8

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Abstract

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital malformation and is associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. The placenta is crucial for healthy fetal development and placental development is altered in pregnancy when the fetus has CHD. This study utilized advanced combined diffusion-relaxation MRI and a data-driven analysis technique to test the hypothesis that placental microstructure and perfusion are altered in CHD-affected pregnancies. 48 participants (36 controls, 12 CHD) underwent 67 MRI scans (50 control, 17 CHD). Significant differences in the weighting of two independent placental and uterine-wall tissue components were identified between the CHD and control groups (both pFDR < 0.001), with changes most evident after 30 weeks gestation. A significant trend over gestation in weighting for a third independent tissue component was also observed in the CHD cohort (R = 0.50, pFDR = 0.04), but not in controls. These findings add to existing evidence that placental development is altered in CHD. The results may reflect alterations in placental perfusion or the changes in fetal-placental flow, villous structure and maturation that occur in CHD. Further research is needed to validate and better understand these findings and to understand the relationship between placental development, CHD, and its neurodevelopmental implications.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Computer Science & Informatics
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	Nature Research
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 May 2024
Date of Acceptance:	24 May 2024
Last Modified:	30 May 2024 11:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/169278

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