Postmortem MR imaging of the fetus: an adjunct or a replacement for conventional autopsy?
Fetal and perinatal autopsy provides essential diagnostic information not only for parents but also for medical audit and clinical trials. The autopsy rate is decreasing throughout the world for numerous reasons. Medical imaging has always been part of the autopsy process, but in the last decade there has been increased interest in imaging as additional to or a replacement for autopsy. This is especially so with the wider availability of magnetic resonance (MR) scanners that are able to provide detailed anatomy of all body structures as well as having the potential to provide information about histopathological patterns of injury. Postmortem MR imaging (MRI) provides similar information to autopsy for gross pathology of most organ systems. It often provides more information in cases of central nervous system abnormalities, but is less accurate for cardiac abnormalities. Targeted, image-guided biopsy may allow histological diagnosis following postmortem MRI.
Academic Unit of Radiology, University of Sheffield, MRI Department Floor C, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, UK. e.whitby@sheffield.ac.uk
Elspeth H
EH
Whitby
Martyn N
MN
Paley
Marta
M
Cohen
Paul D
PD
Griffiths
D001344:Autopsy / Q000379:methods*; D002423:Cause of Death; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000473:pathology*; D005313:Fetal Death / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging