Value of placental stiffness using virtual magnetic resonance elastography in pregnancies complicated by pre-eclampsia

Motivation: To evaluate virtual magnetic resonance elastography in healthy and preeclamptic(PE) pregnancies. Goal(s): To compare the stiffness value (μdiff) and apparent diffusion coeffificient (ADC) in healthy and PE pregnancies. Approach: DWI(b-value of 50 ,200and 800 s/mm2 ) were performed on all pregnant women using a 1.5 T MRI scanner. The value of μdiff and ADC were calculated and compared between groups. Results: The mean ADC value of the control and PE groups were 1.414±0.228×10-3 mm2/s and 1.737±0.107×10-3 mm2/s, respectively. The mean μdiff value of PE were 5.901±1.757 and 4.618±2.055 kPa, respectively. The area under the curve for μdiff was 0.903 and ADC was 0.796, respectively. Impact: Placental μdiff value was found to be more reliable than ADC in differentiating between normal and preeclampsia placentas.