title: Role of fetal MRI in the diagnosis of cerebral ventriculomegaly assessed by ultrasonography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the additional diagnostic value of fetal MRI to evaluate cerebral ventriculomegaly assessed by ultrasonography (US) for the possibility to change the diagnosis, the counseling and the management of pregnancy.
  
  
  METHODS
  From february 2006 to october 2008, we studied 55 pregnant women by fetal MRI (mean age 28 years), 4 with twin pregnancy, for a total of 59 fetuses with mean gestational age of 27 weeks. The number of fetuses affected by ventriculomegaly assessed by US was 55. All fetuses had a US diagnosis of ventriculomegaly: 29 fetuses with isolated ventriculomegaly and 26 fetuses with ventriculomegaly associated with CNS (central nervous system) abnormalities (18) and with no CNS abnormalities (8).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings showed that the two techniques are substantially in agreement in defining the degree of VM, with the exception of some cases in which the disagreement could be attributed to the possible progression of the dilatation between the US and MRI examinations, which sway between two days and two weeks. We proved a low correlation between US and MRI in the evaluation of ventriculomegaly associated either with CNS or non-CNS anomalies: in fact while fetal MRI detected 26/55 (47,3%) VM associated with CNS anomalies, US demonstrated only 18/55(32,7%). Referring to VM associated with non-CNS anomalies, MRI diagnosed 10/55 cases (18,2%) compared to 8/55 fetuses (14,5%) showed by US.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our experience demonstrated that fetal MRI has an important role as adjunctive tool to sonography in the evaluation of cerebral ventriculomegaly for the additional informations given to parents and for the possibility to change the diagnosis, the counseling and the management of pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze Radiologiche, Policlinico Umberto I, Università Sapienza di Roma, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Manganaro
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Savelli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Francioso
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Maurizio
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Coratella
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vilella
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Noia
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giancotti
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tomei
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fierro
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ballesio
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002552:Cerebral Ventricles / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011263:Pregnancy Trimester, Third; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000379:methods*