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Contribution of fetal cerebral MRI for diagnosis of structural anomalies
Author(s) -
Guibaud Laurent
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
prenatal diagnosis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.956
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1097-0223
pISSN - 0197-3851
DOI - 10.1002/pd.2171
Subject(s) - medicine , prenatal diagnosis , fetus , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , pregnancy , biology , genetics
More than 20 years after its introduction, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is now considered a useful complementary tool in the imaging work‐up of fetal brain structural anomalies, but its real contribution in neuro‐fetal imaging is still controversial. Our purpose is to present an overview of the most valuable indications of fetal cerebral MRI in current practice as guided by dedicated ultrasound analysis. On the basis of a review of the literature and our personal experience, we underline herein the real complementarities between these two techniques in different clinical or imaging settings and show how MRI adds significant information compared with ultrasound, especially in the late second and third trimesters. We assess the interest of using MRI from a technical point of view (complete and extensive anatomical analysis, analysis of developmental and pathological processes) and from a practical point of view in different imaging and clinical settings. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.