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Imaging findings in fetal diaphragmatic abnormalities.
Journal article

Imaging findings in fetal diaphragmatic abnormalities.

  • Alamo L Unit of Radiopediatrics, Department of Radiology, University Hospital Center of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland. leonor.alamo@chuv.ch.
  • Gudinchet F Unit of Radiopediatrics, Department of Radiology, University Hospital Center of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • Meuli R Department of Radiology, University Hospital Center of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
  • 2015-08-10
Published in:
  • Pediatric radiology. - 2015
Congenital abnormality
Diaphragm
Fetus
Magnetic resonance imaging
Prenatal diagnosis
Ultrasound
Diagnosis, Differential
Diagnostic Imaging
Diaphragm
Female
Fetal Diseases
Humans
Lung
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Pregnancy
Prenatal Diagnosis
Ultrasonography, Prenatal
English Imaging plays a key role in the detection of a diaphragmatic pathology in utero. US is the screening method, but MRI is increasingly performed. Congenital diaphragmatic hernia is by far the most often diagnosed diaphragmatic pathology, but unilateral or bilateral eventration or paralysis can also be identified. Extralobar pulmonary sequestration can be located in the diaphragm and, exceptionally, diaphragmatic tumors or secondary infiltration of the diaphragm from tumors originating from an adjacent organ have been observed in utero. Congenital abnormalities of the diaphragm impair normal lung development. Prenatal imaging provides a detailed anatomical evaluation of the fetus and allows volumetric lung measurements. The comparison of these data with those from normal fetuses at the same gestational age provides information about the severity of pulmonary hypoplasia and improves predictions about the fetus's outcome. This information can help doctors and families to make decisions about management during pregnancy and after birth. We describe a wide spectrum of congenital pathologies of the diaphragm and analyze their embryological basis. Moreover, we describe their prenatal imaging findings with emphasis on MR studies, discuss their differential diagnosis and evaluate the limits of imaging methods in predicting postnatal outcome.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://fredi.hepvs.ch/global/documents/25156
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