According to a new study, MRI scanning can explain in more detail and detect head, neck, thoracic, abdominal and spinal malformations in unborn babies. The study’s findings have been published in the journal ‘Lancet Child and Adolescent Health’. The large multidisciplinary study was led by King’s College London with Evelina Children’s Hospital London, Great Ormond Street Hospital, and UCL.
In the study, the team of researchers and clinicians demonstrated the ways in which MRI scanning can reveal malformations in detail, including their impact on surrounding structures. Importantly, they noted that MRI is a very safe procedure for pregnant women and their babies. The authors stated that the work is extremely useful both for clinicians who care for babies before birth and for teams that plan the care of the baby after delivery.
Recent research has focused on correction for fetal movement in fetal brain MRI and, more recently, for imaging the fetal heart. However, there is a growing demand for the evaluation of the entire fetus by MRI, and recently research from the King’s College London School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences at Evelina London Children’s Hospital has been possible has developed a post-purchase pipeline to accurately reproduce the size and size of images of the entire fetal body.
The lead researcher, Professor Mary Rutherford, from the School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, said ultrasound remains the gold standard for fetal screening and indeed contributes to these advanced MRI techniques for evaluating the fetal anomaly.
“Until now, ultrasound has been the method of choice to diagnose these anomalies. However, the ability of ultrasound to explain the most detailed anatomy is sometimes limited. MRI scanning provides an opportunity to explain more malformations. more detailed that could assist clinicians in their planning of parental care and counseling, “Rutherford added.
MRI is commonly used in the classification of fetal brain abnormalities. Although not widely accepted in the use of fetal body anomalies, advances have demonstrated a place in a prenatal study of a number of conditions including fetal examination with spina bifida: imaging of the fetal brain along with spinal is an important feature in assessing which patients may benefit from fetal surgery. For fetal cervical masses, MRI provides a clear advantage over conventional ultrasound for assessing tumor enlargement and providing a 3D image of the tumor’s attachment to the airway.
MRI may also be preferable to ultrasound to differentiate between normal and abnormal lung tissue, and in other studies such as diaphragmatic hernia – especially during late movement, when do so with challenging ultrasound. New methods of imaging the fetal body with MRI allow both smooth movement of the fetal images and reconstruction of body organs and defects. Researchers say this improves vision and thus detects and marks dyslexia.
The project brought together surgeons, fetal medicine specialists, radiologists, and physicists to review the use of magnetic resonance imaging to study conditions in the unborn baby. This approach is already integrated into clinical practice at Evelina London, which is part of the NHS Guy and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust. Videos and images are also available to view. Ongoing work is aimed at a fully automated process suitable for clinical translation and wider dissemination into clinical practice.
This story was published from a wire group group with no text changes.