MRI study of the fetal posterior fossa anomalies

Assessing development of fetal posterior fossa is an important routine pregnancy examination, and the accurate antenatal diagnosis is essential for postnatal intervention and treatment. Compared with ultrasound, MR imaging provides more comprehensive and visual morphological characteristics of subtle structures in the posterior fossa. MRI can distinguish different lesions by signal intensity, and can improve or correct the diagnosis based on ultrasound. So far MRI has become a main tool for prenatal monitoring of the development of fetal posterior fossa. Three dimensional recombination of magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, diffusion tensor tractography, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy can particularly provide abundant information of the fetal posterior fossa structure. In this review, we reviewed the current clinical applications of MRI in prenatal diagnosis of fetal posterior fossa malformation. (authors)