Watch me move: Generalizable Fetal Brain Segmentations for Automatic Fetal Head Motion Tracking throughout an MRI Scan

Motivation: Quantifying fetal movement allows first fascinating views into early human development. Fetal MRI is well suited, but isolated individually analyzed contrasts do not allow continuous assessment. Goal(s): Providing quantification of fetal motion for the whole duration of fetal MRI scans and analyzing patterns to obtain insights into time-scale, sequence, gestational age and time point of birth. Approach: A contrast, field-strength and age agnostic network was trained on nearly 3000 fetal MRI scans, providing continuous information, analyzed with a range of automatic measurements. Results: Isolated bursts of activities are replaced by continuous phases of activity across gestation. Impact: First emerging signatures of human neurological development can be systematically and automatically assessed retro- and prospectively on fetal MRI. Signatures of fetal activity and their correlation to fetal health can offer new opportunities for research and future clinical application.