Christian Mitter1, Gregor Kasprian1,
Peter Christian Brugger2, Laura Perju-Dumbrava3, Ivica
Kostovic4, Daniela Prayer1
1Department of Radiology,
Division of Neuroradiology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 2Center
of Anatomy & Cell Biology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria;
3Institute of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna,
Austria; 4Croatian Institute for Brain Research, University of
Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia
Various fetal brain abnormalities are associated with MR signal alterations of periventricular crossroad regions. We used DTI and tractography to segment and characterize individual white matter fiber tracts within periventricular crossroad regions in living unsedated fetuses in utero between gestational week 20 and 34. 7 Fetuses underwent 1.5 Tesla MR imaging during routine clinical fetal MR examinations. DTI postprocessing with tractography was performed by using a multiple ROI approach. By using tractography we were able to segment the posterior periventricular crossroad region into sagitally oriented strata of thalamocortical, corticopontine, external capsule and association fibers.