title: Asymmetric development of the hippocampal region is common: a fetal MR imaging study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hippocampal development is poorly understood. This study evaluated the normal development of the hippocampal region during the fetal period by using MR imaging.
  
  
  METHODS
  MR images of 63 fetuses without intracranial pathology were reviewed independently by 2 radiologists with no knowledge of the fetal GA. Three MR images were performed postmortem and 60 in vivo. The progress of hippocampal inversion was analyzed in coronal sections, and the left and right sides of the hippocampal region were compared in every case.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The fetuses in the postmortem examinations were at GWs 17-18 and in the in vivo examinations, at GWs 19-36. The hippocampal sulcus was open, bi- or unilaterally, in 39 fetuses. The oldest was at GW 32. The sulcus was closed at GW 21 at the earliest, unilaterally. In 26/63 fetuses (41%), the deepening or closure of the hippocampal sulcus or hippocampal inversion was asymmetric; in 23 fetuses, the right side developed faster. A shallow collateral sulcus was found earliest at GW 17. A deep collateral sulcus was visible earliest at GW 26 unilaterally, but in all fetuses from GW 31 onward, it was seen bilaterally. The orientation of the collateral sulcus was not related to the GA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are wide individual temporal variations in the development and the inversion process of the hippocampal sulcus as well as in the formation of the collateral sulcus. Asymmetric development is common, and in most of the asymmetric cases, the right hippocampus develops faster.
authors: Department of Radiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. dragan.bajic@akademiska.se
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Bajic
authors: N
authors: N
authors: Canto Moreira
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Wikström
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Raininko
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000196:embryology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity