Purpose or Case Report:
Fetal MRI is useful in the detection and evaluation of several fetal pulmonary abnormalities including congenital diaphragmatic hernia, pulmonary hypoplasia and pulmonary airway malformations. MRI offers a noninvasive modality that is complementary to ultrasound for detecting fetal abnormalities. Fetal MRI can also be beneficial in helping to establish the prognosis and assisting in perinatal management. One of the major advantages of MRI is that it allows the quantitative measurement of lung volume thereby providing the observed total fetal lung volume (TFLVo) which can be compared to expected total fetal lung volume. A ratio of observed to expected ratio can be calculated. This can be useful in prognosis and risk stratification, particularly in diaphragmatic hernias. MRI also has the advantage of excellent spatial resolution and evaluation of soft tissues structures that may be present above the diaphragm. In this exhibit we will provide several cases including congenital diaphragmatic hernia, congenital pulmonary airway malformation and bilateral pulmonary hypoplasia to illustrate the benefit and utility of fetal MRI for the evaluation of fetal thoracic abnormalities.
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