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Magnetic resonance imaging of the fetal musculoskeletal system

  • Fetal imaging
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Abstract

Diagnosing musculoskeletal pathology requires understanding of the normal embryological development. Intrinsic errors of skeletal development are individually rare but are of paramount clinical importance because anomalies can greatly impact patients’ lives. An accurate assessment of the fetal musculoskeletal system must be performed to provide optimal genetic counseling as well as to drive therapeutic management. This manuscript reviews the embryology of skeletal development and the appearance of the maturing musculoskeletal system on fetal MRI. In addition, it presents a comprehensive review of musculoskeletal fetal pathology along with postnatal imaging.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Hershey Children’s Hospital, Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Penn State College of Medicine, 500 University Drive, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA

    Nancy A. Chauvin

  2. Department of Radiology, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Teresa Victoria & Asef Khwaja

  3. Department of Radiology, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Hisham Dahmoush

  4. Department of Radiology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Diego Jaramillo

Authors
  1. Nancy A. Chauvin
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  2. Teresa Victoria
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  3. Asef Khwaja
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  4. Hisham Dahmoush
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  5. Diego Jaramillo
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Correspondence to Nancy A. Chauvin.

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Online Supplementary Material 1

Post-processing cinematic clip manipulated at the workstation showed normal fetus followed by affected fetus with clubfeet and clenched hands. Clip courtesy of Dr. Monica Epelman (MP4 4353 kb)

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Chauvin, N.A., Victoria, T., Khwaja, A. et al. Magnetic resonance imaging of the fetal musculoskeletal system. Pediatr Radiol 50, 2009–2027 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-020-04769-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-020-04769-z

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