Placental perfusion in Fetuses with congenital heart disease and normal pregnancy assessed with intravoxel incoherent motion imaging

To determine whether placental perfusion alterations are evident in utero in fetuses with congenital heart disease (CHD), we quantitatively investigated perfusion in 28 fetuses with CHD and 39 healthy gestational age–matched controls using intravoxel incoherent motion imaging (IVIM). We found that the f values were significantly higher in the CHD group compared with the normal pregnancy group (37.8% vs. 30.2%, p＜0.0001), and there was no significant difference in the D value and D* value between the two groups. The increased placental perfusion in fetuses with CHD might represent an attempt to compensate for a perfusion deficit in fetal circulation.