PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - B. De Keersmaecker
AU  - H. Pottel
AU  - G. Naulaers
AU  - L. De Catte
TI  - Sonographic Development of the Pericallosal Vascularization in the First and Early Second Trimester of Pregnancy
AID  - 10.3174/ajnr.A5562
DP  - 2018 Mar 01
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
PG  - 589--596
VI  - 39
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/39/3/589.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/39/3/589.full
SO  - Am. J. Neuroradiol.2018 Mar 01; 39
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Anomalies of the corpus callosum are rare. Routine scanning in midtrimester of the pregnancy often fails to identify defective development. The purpose of the study was to identify the pericallosal artery and all its main branching arteries during early gestation from the first trimester onward, to measure the length of the pericallosal artery during its development, and to establish a normal vascular map for each week of development.MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a single-center prospective, longitudinal clinical study in 15 patients between 11 and 22 weeks of gestation. The origin and course of the different blood vessels were identified.RESULTS: There was a linear association among gestational age, the biparietal diameter, and the length of the pericallosal artery. The curvature of the developing pericallosal artery increases linearly with the gestational age and biparietal diameter, and 4 variations of branching of the callosomarginal artery were observed.CONCLUSIONS: The pericallosal artery and its branches can be identified and measured from 11 weeks on, and the pericallosal artery takes its characteristic course. A defective course or an abnormal biometry of the pericallosal artery could be an early sonographic marker of abnormal development of the corpus callosum.BPDbiparietal diameterCCcorpus callosumCMAmarginal callosal arteryL1 and L2the anterior and distal part of the pericallosal artery to the highest point