Normal Development of the Fetal Brain by MRI
Section snippets
Fetal MRI Techniques
Fetal MRI is routinely performed on a 1.5-Tesla scanner without maternal or fetal sedation. The mother lies supine during the course of the examination, the duration of which is typically 45 to 60 minutes. If the mother cannot tolerate lying on her back (eg, because of back pain or compression of the inferior vena cava), then the examination can be performed with the mother lying on her left side. To reduce fetal motion, the mother is kept NPO (nothing by mouth) for 4 hours before the MR
Ventricles
The walls of the ventricles are critical to normal brain development and can be evaluated with fetal MRI. They are comprised of the ventricular zone (or germinal matrix), which gives rise to the brain substance and is considered the innermost layer of the fetal cerebral hemisphere (see later in the text). The ventricular zone, therefore, is very thick earlier in gestation (Fig. 6). It appears as a smooth band of dark T2 signal and bright T1 signal lining the lateral ventricles. It is thicker at
Conclusion
Fetal brain development is a highly dynamic and complex process. Its appearance can now be imaged in vivo with fetal MRI. An understanding of embryologic aspects of brain development and their correlative appearance on MRI is critical to interpreting clinical fetal MR images.
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Fetal Brain Anatomy
2022, Neuroimaging Clinics of North AmericaCitation Excerpt :Focal scalp masses should be ruled out. Another intracranial structure visualized on fetal MRI is the pituitary stalk, which can be detected on coronal or sagittal images as early as 19 gestational weeks and in all fetuses after 25 weeks of gestation13,43(Fig. 20). The olfactory sulci and bulbs can be reliably detected in the coronal plane after 30 weeks of gestation44 (Fig. 21).
Is fetal MRI ready for neuroimaging prime time? An examination of progress and remaining areas for development
2021, Developmental Cognitive NeuroscienceMagnetic resonance imaging of the developing fetal brain structures
2021, Factors Affecting Neurodevelopment: Genetics, Neurology, Behavior, and DietGrowth trajectories of the human fetal brain in healthy and complicated pregnancies and associations with neurodevelopmental outcome in the early life course
2020, Early Human DevelopmentCitation Excerpt :In this study, associations were found between neurodevelopment and specifically left or right brain trajectories. Studies have shown that left-right asymmetry in cortical folding is a normal developmental phenomena prenatally [43]. This phenomena makes it difficult to hypothesize why specifically left or right brain trajectories are associated.