Normative growth trajectories of fetal brain regions validated by satisfactory maturation of neurodevelopmental domains at 2 years of age

Abstract

Abstract We previously constructed a qualitative, 3D ultrasound derived atlas of the normative spatiotemporal dynamics of fetal brain maturation. Here, using the same healthy multi-national cohort, we applied deep learning methods to 4205 fetal brain scans from 18–27 weeks’ gestation, to produce an extensive, quantitative description of the growth of 16 fetal brain structures associated with satisfactory domain-specific neurodevelopmental scores at 2 years of age. The methodology, which is publicly available, takes less than 10 seconds per scan. We define 28 region-specific, functionally relevant, normative growth trajectories, a ratio between the relative volumes of the insular (rILV) and parietal (rPLV) lobes reflecting asynchronous maturation of fetal brain regions, and introduce a fetal brain maturation index that quantifies biological age and deviations from chronological age. Finally, the very low percentage of variance explained by between site differences (0.6% to 5.8% of the total variance) reinforces a fundamental biological principle: fetal growth and development across populations with diverse ancestries is similar provided that environmental constraints on growth are minimal.