Role of Fetal Cardiac MRI in Assessment of Congenital Heart Diseases in Comparison to Fetal Echocardiography

Abstract

etal cardiac examination is an important part of obstetrical follow-up during pregnancy and impacts future care of the infant. Fetal diagnosis allows for specially tailored preparations to be made for the delivery and early care of an infant with congenital heart disease (CHD). CHD affects nearly 9 per 1,000 live births and represents the largest subclass of congenital anomalies (Loomba et al., 2011). Imaging is fundamental to the diagnosis of CHD and is required at all stages of patient care. From the fetal stage onwards, imaging outlines anatomy and physiology, helps to refine management, evaluates the consequences of interventions and helps guide prognosis (Ntsinjana et al., 2011). Conventional fetal echocardiography is the mainstay for prenatal diagnosis of congenital cardiac lesions, based on its ease of use, availability and high diagnostic accuracy. However, individual fetal and maternal factors can have a deleterious effect on the quality of ultrasound imaging (Lloyd et al., 2016). The usual timing of fetal echocardiography for the premature diagnosis of congenital heart disease is at approximately 20–26 weeks of gestation. During the later phases of gestation, the development of certain conditions (e.g., relative reduction of the amniotic fluid volume and