Application of MRI in prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease

Abstract

Congenital heart disease(CHD)is one of the main causes of newborn death, which makes the prenatal diagnosis of CHD the hot spot of perinatology.Fetal echocardiography has high sensitivity in diagnosing fetal CHD in mid-gestational age of pregnancy, and is considered world-widely as the gold standard.Rapid advance has been achieved for the past decades in the technology of fetal cardiac magnetic resonance imaging(MRI). The advantages of fetal cardiac MRI including broad vision of interest and good reproducibility could make up for the deficiency of fetal echocardiography.However, some technical problems significantly limit the clinical application of it.Nowadays, fetal cardiac MRI has been utilized as a supplementary method in prenatal diagnosis of fetal CHD.This article reviews the application, advantages and limitations of fetal cardiac MRI in fetal CHD diagnosis. Key words: Fetal congenital heart disease; Fetal cardiac MRI