Medical Physics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Medical Physics, including details on medicine, radiotherapy, biomechanics, medical imaging.

Fetal magnetic resonance imaging in the prenatal diagnosis of cerebellar hemorrhage.

Gorincour G, Rypens F, Lapierre C, Costa T, Audibert F, Robitaille Y

Department of Medical Imaging, Sainte Justine Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. guillaume.gorincour@ap-hm.fr

We report the case of a fetus with a sonographic mid-gestation diagnosis of hyperechogenic cerebellum suspected to be of hemorrhagic origin on fetal brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). No etiological factors for fetal hemorrhage were found other than a maternal heterozygocity for factor V Leiden. Following termination of the pregnancy, autopsy confirmed the prenatal diagnosis of massive cerebellar hemorrhage without underlying vascular anomaly. As an additional tool to ultrasonography, fetal brain MRI can affirm the hemorrhagic origin of hyperechogenic cerebellar lesions, especially by showing a high signal on T1-weighted images.

Published 28 December 2005 in Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol, 27(1): 78-80.
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