Fetal Cardiovascular MRI

Over recent years many of the technical hurdles that have previously hampered high-resolution fetal cardiovascular magnetic resonance have been overcome. For example, cardiac gating can now be achieved using a commercial MRI-compatible cardiotocography unit. Additional artifacts arising from fetal body motion and maternal respiratory variation can be limited through the use of accelerated acquisition techniques and motion correction. As a result, we have found that MRI can be a useful adjunct to ultrasound for visualizing cardiac anatomy, particularly in late gestation, when the sonographic windows may be suboptimal. In addition, cardiac MRI offers a versatile set of tools for examining cardiovascular physiology, providing new insights about the distribution of blood flow oxygen transport in fetuses with congenital cardiac malformations. With increasing awareness of the importance of prenatal cardiovascular physiology for fetal development and perinatal outcome, the stage is set for fetal cardiac MRI to play an increasing role in the assessment of diseases affecting the fetal cardiovascular system.