Funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Purpose of the Study
The placenta is the least understood human organ but arguably one of the most important. It influences not just the health of a woman and her fetus during pregnancy, but also the lifelong health of both.
As part of the Human Placenta Project, funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the University of Wisconsin-Madison placenta function research team, led by Principal Investigators Dinesh Shah, MD, and Oliver Wieben, PhD, will study and develop imaging techniques to identify pregnancy problems at a very early stage. The team will use cutting-edge ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to measure early predictors of complications in pregnancies. The project is the first of its kind to study the placenta in real time, allowing clinicians and scientists to visualize diseases or abnormalities of pregnancy at very early stages.
The clinical studies will be carried out as a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Meriter Hospital, and Center for Perinatal Care. Imaging techniques will be developed in collaboration with UW-Madison Departments of Radiology and Medical Physics. These clinical studies are also supported by the Image Analysis Core (IMAC) Facility at the Wisconsin Institutes for Medical Research (WIMR), and the UW-Madison Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR).
Meet the Team
Participation
This study is now recruiting participants. Participation is simple and safe. Throughout the course of your pregnancy, you will periodically receive ultrasounds and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans, which will allow us to measure the blood flow between your placenta and your uterus. You will also contribute blood and urine samples during the research visits.
Ultrasounds and MRIs use NO RADIATION, and both procedures are safe for you and your child. Both ultrasound and MRI scanners have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).