Ultrafast magnetic resonance imaging of the fetal central nervous system

This study assesses ultra-fast MR techniques in imaging congenital central nervous system abnormalities of the fetus and compares the results with other antenatal and postnatal imaging techniques. Ninety-three women, 19–36 weeks' gestation with a singleton pregnancy with known congenital abnormalities of the central nervous system, detected on antenatal ultrasound, were imaged on a 1.5T superconducting magnet. A single-shot fast-spin echo technique was used to produce T2 weighted images, acquisition time 20 seconds. Postnatal imaging or autopsies were used as the ‘gold standard’. Fetal brain MR was performed in all 93 cases and spine MR in 15. Postnatal findings or autopsy agreed with the MR findings in all but two cases (97.8% concordance). These were a case of Dandy-Walker and cortical dysplasia (the latter was not diagnosed on MR) and a case with a hemivertebra. In 47 (55%) cases there was full agreement between ultrasound and MR. In 35 (37.6%) MR altered the diagnosis. In the remaining 11 MR provided ...