Cortical Development Malformation

Fetal brain MRI is an essential diagnostic tool to inform parents about the prognosis of abnormalities detected on routine ultrasound. Recent work has shown that brain MRI measurements at the antenatal stage are predictive of the child's postnatal development. However, this work remains limited to basic research, in part because of the lack of normative curves of brain tissue volume evolution from fetal MRI acquired in clinical routine. This project aims to fill this gap. For this purpose, the project will exploit fetal MRI scans acquired in 4 French hospitals (Marseille, Nice, Montpellier and Paris): MRI scans without abnormalities will be centralized for analysis, and families who have undergone these scans will be contacted to evaluate the development of their children after birth. Normative curves will be established by applying a set of treatments developed by the laboratory in Marseille collaborating in the project. Ultimately, these curves will help to clarify the diagnosis of fetuses by providing a quantitative characterization of the normality of brain measurements.