Chenchen Yan MD, Presenter: Nothing to Disclose

Jian He MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Tong Ru MD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Bing Zhang, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Ming Li, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

Bin Zhu MD, PhD, Abstract Co-Author: Nothing to Disclose

To measure several major lines of normal fetal brain including cerebral frontal-occipital diameter (cFOD), cerebral biparietal diameter (CBD) and length of the corpus callosum (LCC) on MR images, and to analyze the relationship between those indexes and gestational age (GA).

MR images of 156 fetal brains without any central nervous system diseases or abnormalities, aged from 24-38 gestational weeks, were retrospectively reviewed. All the images, including transverse, coronal and sagittal images of the fetal brain were obtained by using Balance-FFE and T2WI-Drive sequences on a 1.5 T MR scanner. cFOD, CBD and LCC were measured and the median, maximum and minimum values of those indexes in each gestational age were calculated. The relationships between those indexes and GA were analyzed by using SPSS 13.0 statistical software.

There are second-degree polynomial functional rather than linear relationships between the median values of cFOD (mm) , CBD (mm) and LCC (mm) and GA (weeks).Regression functions are as follows: cFOD= -0.168 GA²+13.176 GA-152.722 (r²=0.813, P＜0.001); CBD= -0.172 GA²+13.363 GA-176.276 (r²=0.834, P＜0.001); LCC= -0.036 GA²+3.172 GA-29.321 (r²=0.640, P＜0.001).

The development of normal fetal brain can be well displayed by MR imaging, measurement of major morphologic indexes can provide valuable information for clinical evaluation of development status of the fetal brain.

Establishment of morphologic standards promotes applications of MR in prenatal diagnosis of fetal brain development, which is an important supplement to ultrasound as a screening tool.

Yan, C, He, J, Ru, T, Zhang, B, Li, M, Zhu, B, Measurement and Analysis of Major Lines of Normal Fetal Brain on MR Images.  Radiological Society of North America 2011 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, November 26 - December 2, 2011 ,Chicago IL. http://archive.rsna.org/2011/11034229.html