RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Fetal MR Imaging Anatomy of the Transverse Temporal Gyrus (Heschl Gyrus)
JF American Journal of Neuroradiology
JO Am. J. Neuroradiol.
FD American Society of Neuroradiology
SP 1325
OP 1331
DO 10.3174/ajnr.A8026
VO 44
IS 11
A1 Piccirilli, Eleonora
A1 Marchetti, Chiara
A1 Panara, Valentina
A1 Celentano, Claudio
A1 D'Antonio, Francesco
A1 Sensi, Stefano
A1 Righini, Andrea
A1 Caulo, Massimo
YR 2023
UL http://www.ajnr.org/content/44/11/1325.abstract
AB BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The human auditory system develops early in fetal life. This retrospective MR imaging study describes the in vivo prenatal anatomic development of the transverse temporal gyrus (Heschl gyrus) site of the primary auditory cortex.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred seventy-two MR imaging studies of the fetal brain (19–39 weeks' gestational age) acquired from a single institution's 1.5T scanner were retrospectively examined by 2 neuroradiologists. MR imaging with pathologic findings and extreme motion artifacts was excluded. Postnatal Heschl gyrus landmarks were used as a reference on T2-weighted ssFSE sequences in the 3 orthogonal planes. The frequency of the Heschl gyrus was reported for gestational age, hemisphere, and planes. Descriptive statistics and a McNemar test were performed.RESULTS: Two hundred thirty MR imaging studies were finally included. Fetal brains were divided by gestational age (in weeks) into 8 groups (parentheses indicate the number of observations): 19–21 (29), 22–23 (32), 24–25 (21), 26–27 (18), 28–29 (35), 30–31 (30), 32–33 (33) and >34 (32). The Heschl gyrus appeared on MR imaging between 24 and 25 weeks' gestational age (14/21 fetuses, 67%) and was visible in all fetuses after the 28th week of gestation. By its appearance (24–28 weeks' gestational age), the sagittal plane was the most sensitive in its detectability. After 28–29 weeks' gestational age, the Heschl gyrus was evident in all acquisition planes and fetuses. Results did not differ between hemispheres.CONCLUSIONS: The Heschl gyrus appears on MR imaging at 24–25 weeks' gestational age, paralleling the functional activation of the auditory system. We propose the Heschl gyrus as an early additional MR imaging marker of fetal brain development.GAgestational ageHGHeschl gyrusSIsulcus intermediusssFSEsingle-shot fast spin-echo