title: Neuroimaging in pregnancy: a review of clinical indications and obstetric outcomes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine indications and outcomes of pregnant women requiring neurologic imaging at a tertiary care center.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed medical records of women receiving magnetic resonance (MR) head imaging during pregnancy to determine indications for such imaging and their pregnancy outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Between April 2007 and December 2008, 60 pregnant women presented to Brigham and Women's Hospital with severe headache or other acute neurologic complaint and underwent head imaging. Two patients were found to have significant findings considered to be neurologic emergencies: a right thalamic hemorrhage and a subarachnoid hemorrhage. Nine patients had abnormal findings not requiring immediate intervention but deeming further evaluation. Sixteen patients had abnormal findings determined to be incidental and unrelated to their indication for imaging. Thirty-three patients had unremarkable imaging studies. The most common presenting symptoms included headache (70%) and visual disturbances (48%). The most common imaging studies obtained were MR brain without contrast (87%) and MR angiography head without contrast (73%). The majority of patients (96%) delivered in the third trimester without significant complications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most women who receive head imaging in pregnancy do not have adverse findings and have good obstetrical outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Luwam G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Semere
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: McElrath
authors.forename: Autumn M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Klein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult