OBJECTIVE: To assess the feasibility of the prenatal diagnosis using fetal neurosonography of brain injuries in the surviving fetus after the demise of a monochorionic cotwin. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study in the period 1990-2004 of monochorionic twin pregnancies with a single fetal demise. A detailed sonographic evaluation ...

OBJECTIVES: To assess whether, by applying a predefined set of morphometric measurements to the posterior fossa and the cerebellar vermis, it is possible to detect and quantify the following parameters, which represent key features of abnormalities of the vermis and posterior fossa: 1) upward rotation of the vermis; 2) upward ...

We present a case of Fryns' syndrome diagnosed prenatally using three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A cleft of the soft palate was diagnosed using 3D thick-slice ultrasonography. Other sonographic findings included a right diaphragmatic hernia, enlarged echogenic kidneys and severe polyhydramnios. The detection of the cleft palate ...

The incidence of conjoined twins is estimated to be around 1 in 250,000 live births. There is a distinct female predominance. In this paper the imaging of conjoined twins both antenatally and postnatally is reviewed, in particular taking into consideration recent advances with multidetector CT. Accurate counselling of parents regarding ...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Magnetic resonance imaging is playing an increasingly prominent role in depicting brain maturation, especially gyral formation that follows a temporospatial pattern, and in detecting developmental abnormalities of the cortex and other brain sectors. Knowledge of the technical advantages and limitations of in-utero magnetic resonance imaging techniques, relative ...

OBJECTIVE: Advances in fetal magnetic resonance imaging allow the detection of subtle anatomic anomalies of unclear long-term clinical significance. The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of fetal magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of isolated inferior vermian hypoplasia and to describe the neurodevelopmental outcome. STUDY DESIGN: ...

Pygopagus conjoined twins were born by caesarean section at 34 weeks of gestation. Initial evaluation revealed no other abnormalities apart from their attachment at lower back, buttocks and perineum. They had two separate anal and urogenital openings. Their investigations included roentgenograms, ultrasound, barium enema, cystourethrogram, CT scan and MRI. There ...

AIM: To determine the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the detection of the location of the placenta and placental adherence in patients with extra-uterine or abdominal pregnancy. METHODS: A retrospective study of patients with a suspected diagnosis of extra-uterine pregnancy was performed over a 12-month period. MRI images ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is an increasing interest in use of postmortem MR imaging as an adjunct or alternative to autopsy. Before evaluating spinal pathology on postmortem MR imaging, it is important to have knowledge of the normal appearance of the fetal spine at different gestational ages. The aim of ...

PURPOSE: To retrospectively determine the relationship between posterior fossa volume (PFV) and estimated gestational age (EGA) and/or femur length (FL) during pregnancy for the purpose of developing a normal growth curve. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Advance institutional review board approval was obtained for this HIPAA-compliant study, and the need for parent ...

Hysterosalpingography (HSG) has become a commonly performed examination due to recent advances and improvements in, as well as the increasing popularity of, reproductive medicine. HSG plays an important role in the evaluation of abnormalities related to the uterus and fallopian tubes. Uterine abnormalities that can be detected at HSG include ...

The cerebral cortex develops in three overlapping stages: cell proliferation, neuronal migration, and cortical organization. Abnormal neuronal migration may result in lissencephaly, which is characterized by either the absence (agyria) or the paucity (pachygyria) of cerebral convolutions. The two main clinicopathologic types of lissencephaly may be differentiated according to their ...

We present a case involving a giant hemangioma of the fetal neck, prenatal diagnosis of which was a teratoma. A 32-year-old pregnant woman was referred to our hospital at 31 weeks' gestation owing to a giant solid mass of the fetal neck and excessive amniotic fluid. The mass seemed to ...

Congenital epulis is a benign intraoral tumor that has rarely been diagnosed prenatally. We report a fetus with congenital epulis diagnosed by three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound and fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 35 weeks' gestation. We show an image of congenital epulis using a new ultrasound technique, the 3-D multislice ...

Zellweger syndrome (ZS), or cerebrohepatorenal syndrome, was the first described peroxisomal biogenesis disorder. It represents the most severe phenotype, and some of its multiple congenital anomalies can manifest prenatally. Fetal hypokinesia, renal hyperechogenicity, and cerebral ventricular enlargement are the most common reported fetal features. Single and/or late detectable manifestations account ...

MR imaging of the fetal brain is rapidly being embraced in clinical practice. Fetal MR imaging is proving to be a powerful modality with which to evaluate the fetal brain and is a valuable complement to prenatal ultrasound. Structural abnormalities, such as cerebral malformations and destructive lesions, can be sonographically ...

In a retrospective study of 22 neonates with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, fetal lung volume (FLV) measured by magnetic resonance imaging was associated with survival; the best FLV ratio cut-off to predict mortality was 30% of expected FLV. This study supports a correlation between FLV and the chances of survival.

In this review, we demonstrate the developmental appearance, structural features, and reorganization of transient cerebral zones and structures in the human fetal brain using a correlative histological and MRI analysis. The analysis of postmortem aldehyde-fixed specimens (age range: 10 postovulatory weeks to term) revealed that, at 10 postovulatory weeks, the ...

Post-mortem magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is of increasing interest not only as an alternative to autopsy but as a research tool to aid the interpretation and diagnosis of in utero MR images. The information from the post-mortem MR has allowed the development of imaging sequences applicable to in utero imaging ...

Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the fetus is considered an established adjunct to fetal ultrasound, stacks of images alone cannot provide an overall impression of the fetus. The present study evaluates the use of thick-slab T2-weighted MR images to obtain a three-dimensional impression of the fetus using MRI. A ...

This review deals with the in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appearance of the human fetal abdomen. Imaging findings are correlated with current knowledge of human fetal anatomy and physiology, which are crucial to understand and interpret fetal abdominal MRI scans. As fetal MRI covers a period of more than ...

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is associated with a high mortality, which is mainly due to pulmonary hypoplasia and secondary pulmonary hypertension. In severely affected fetuses, tracheal occlusion (TO) is performed prenatally to reverse pulmonary hypoplasia, because TO leads to accelerated lung growth. Prenatal imaging is important to identify fetuses with ...

The use of fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in addition to prenatal genetic testing and sonography, has the potential to improve prenatal diagnosis of genetic disorders. MRI plays an important role in the evaluation of fetal abnormalities and malformations. Fetal MRI often enables a differential diagnosis, a determination of the ...

Normal fetal brain maturation can be studied by in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from the 18th gestational week (GW) to term, and relies primarily on T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted (DW) sequences. These maturational changes must be interpreted with a knowledge of the histological background and the temporal course of the ...

The goal of this study was to provide a representative description of the normal placenta with contrast medium-free magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in order to determine a standard of reference. One hundred consecutive singleton pregnancies were investigated by MRI without application of a contrast medium. The mean gestational age (GA) ...

Normal fetal lung development is a complex process influenced by mechanical and many biochemical factors. In addition to ultrasound, fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) constitutes a new method to investigate this process in vivo during the second and third trimester. The techniques of MRI volumetry, assessment of signal intensities, and ...

Advances in genetics and computing have contributed to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying cardiovascular development, its programming and possible therapeutic manipulation. Pre-conceptual folate can reduce the prevalence of cardiac malformations and improvements in imaging allow us to detect congenital heart disease and assess function at earlier gestations. Three- ...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of examining the fetal heart with Tomographic Ultrasound Imaging (TUI) using four-dimensional (4D) volume datasets acquired with spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC). MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and ninety-five fetuses underwent 4D ultrasonography (US) of the fetal heart with STIC. ...

BACKGROUND: A 17-year-old pregnant woman presented to hospital at 19 weeks' gestation with an 8-week history of hyperemesis gravidarum, 16.8 kg of weight loss, and new-onset weakness, dizziness and blurred vision. Examination of the patient showed confusion, papilledema, ophthalmoparesis, nystagmus, reduced hearing and truncal ataxia. INVESTIGATIONS: Physical examination, abdominal ultrasound, ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe prenatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of dural sinus malformation (DSM), a very rare, congenital form of dural arteriovenous shunt (DAVS), typically affecting newborns. METHODS: Ultrasound (US) and MRI were performed at 34 weeks' gestation, and the findings of these examinations were compared with postnatal MRI studies ...

We report the case of a fetus with a sonographic mid-gestation diagnosis of hyperechogenic cerebellum suspected to be of hemorrhagic origin on fetal brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). No etiological factors for fetal hemorrhage were found other than a maternal heterozygocity for factor V Leiden. Following termination of the pregnancy, ...

In the last few years fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proposed as a second level technique in the evaluation of fetal brain anomalies. It has been demonstrated that MRI is highly accurate in illustrating the morphologic changes of developing brain and fetal brain abnormalities being a useful procedure ...

OBJECTIVE: To present the usefulness of fetal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for accurate diagnosis of Pfeiffer syndrome type II. CASE AND METHODS: A 19-year-old woman was referred to us at 29 weeks of gestation for prenatal management of hydrocephalus. Ultrasonography of the fetus showed cloverleaf skull with dilated lateral ventricles, ...

OBJECTIVE: To establish normative data for the size, conspicuity, and imaging characteristics of normal developing fetal sheep organs on ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. METHODS: US and MR images of ten normal pregnant sheep, at 40, 65, 90, 115, and 140 gestational days (term = 145 days), were ...

OBJECTIVE: Cerebral ventricular atrial diameter is routinely measured on fetal ultrasound examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); however, the methods have not been compared prospectively. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement between fetal ultrasonography and MRI in the measurement of atrial diameter on a coronal slice. ...

A 24-year-old woman (Gravida I, Para I) at estimated 32 weeks of pregnancy was referred to our department for evaluation of a suspected fetal gastroschisis. Ultrasound scan revealed multiple loops of dilated bowel outside the fetal abdomen and absence of membrane surrounding the herniated loops of the intestines. Three-dimensional (3D) ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to measure the fetal subarachnoid spaces at different sites of the brain using magnetic resonance (MR) images and analyze them in relation to gestational age. METHODS: Fetal MR images were obtained from 158 fetuses between 18 and 39 weeks of gestation who later ...

PURPOSE: To quantify the dependence of the signal intensity (SI) at blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of fetal sheep brains on maternal oxygen saturation and to investigate the influence of positions of regions of interest (ROIs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: All experimental protocols were reviewed and approved by ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the contribution and limitations of fetal ultrasonography (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the diagnosis and management of migration disorders. METHODS: Over a 5-year period, 14 fetuses with pathological migration disorders, without an infectious context, were taken care of in our centre. All underwent US; nine ...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the correlation between fetal lung volume (FLV), measured with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and postnatal mortality in newborns with prenatally diagnosed isolated congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). METHODS: In a 4-year prospective multicenter study, 77 fetuses with isolated CDH diagnosed between 20 and 33 weeks' gestation underwent fast ...

We report a case of hemimegalencephaly diagnosed by prenatal MRI with an emphasis on its appearance on diffusion-weighted images. This case shows that in this condition the enlarged hemisphere may show restricted diffusion on prenatal MRI. In our opinion, this finding may result from a combination of increased cellularity and ...

This paper presents a review of various complications of multifetal gestations identified on MR imaging and highlights findings of those complications unique to monochorionic twinning. The goal is to illustrate the potential of MR as a useful application in these clinical circumstances. A total of 32 women with multifetal gestations ...

Fetal magnetic resonance imaging (fetal MRI) is an important adjunct to antenatal imaging especially when neonatal surgery is contemplated. We report two cases of fetal nuchal tumors, which were diagnosed incidentally on an ultrasound scan and had fetal MRI to aid diagnosis, prognosis, counseling and management planning. In the first ...

OBJECTIVE: Cleft of the secondary palate without cleft lip is difficult to visualize sonographically. This study was performed to assess the utility of sonography, standard magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and real-time MR imaging in the diagnosis of isolated cleft palate. METHODS: We prospectively assessed 5 fetuses at risk for isolated ...

We present a case of severe Dandy-Walker malformation with enlarged posterior fossa cyst extruding through the incisura of the tentorium and causing severe hydrocephalus. A posterior fossa malformation was suspected by ultrasonography and was further evaluated by fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Fetal MRI demonstrated that there were no associated ...

OBJECTIVE: This article describes a technique to minimize MRI time and obtain true orthogonal T2-weighted projections of the fetal head. The technique takes advantage of the symmetry of fetal orbits to establish a line of reference through the orbits to obtain true sagittal, coronal, and axial projections of the intracranial ...

In the last few years magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has expanded its diagnostic capability in the evaluation of fetal brain. Starting from the 18th to 20th gestational weeks, MRI can reliably depict fetal brain anatomy and locate pathology, offering a robust and reliable tool for the assessment of disorders of ...

Diaphragmatic eventration is the upward displacement of the abdominal viscera secondary to a thin or paralytic diaphragm. Its clinical presentations and radiographic pictures are similar to those of diaphragmatic hernia. Prenatal diagnosis of diaphragmatic eventration is extremely rare. A pregnant woman was referred to us because of abnormal cardiac findings ...

Fetal female urogenital anomalies are often difficult to evaluate by ultrasonography, especially in late gestation. We report a case of fetal hydrometrocolpos detected at 35 weeks of gestation. Ultrasonography revealed a large retrovesical septate hypoechogenic mass in the fetal abdomen, however the sonographic findings were inconclusive. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ...

As part of a large-scale noninvasive fetal ultrasound screen to recover ethylnitrosourea (ENU)-induced mutations causing congenital heart defects in mice, we established a high-throughput ultrasound scanning strategy for interrogating fetal mice in utero utilizing three orthogonal imaging planes defined by the fetus' vertebral column and body axes, structures readily seen ...