Fetal MRI Limitations

The advancements that are available for a Prenatal Sonography would be the opportunities to specialize in more than one specialty. They may advance to either breast, vascular, cardiac, neurosonographer, ophthalmologic ultrasound. Many others could advance in this job such as being a senior technologist, a clinical instructor, program director, a supervisor, or have management roles. All of this is based on the advancements the person wants. There are other advancements available such as business roles like in sales, applications, or building client relations.

One of the most important determinant of fetal viability is the pulmonary system development and maturity. The prenatal awareness of any abnormalities or anomalies going to ensure better management of the pregnancy, also giving the opportunity for the medical team and parents to prepare for the delivery and postnatal treatment. Congenital malformations of the fetal thorax are common which can involve many organs. Early detection and accurate diagnosis of fetal pathology are possible by using ultrasound and MRI imaging.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a way of medically imaging the body with the use of a magnetic field and radiofrequency waves. (1) As image quality of MRI continues to improve, more MRI exams are being ordered. Increasing MRI exams leads to increased wait times. Due to current wait lists, the health status of patients may decrease, influencing the type of treatment the patient will require once removed from the wait list. (7) The advances in technology have increased in the past decade, with MRI procedures are vastly growing to provide superior diagnostic quality compared to other modalities. New technologies are also allowing for faster scan times and further increased image quality. (9)

Birth defects can have life threatening consequences for the fetus. Many birth defects can be detected during pregnancy by an ultrasound. Some of these abnormalities include abdominal wall defect, orofacial cleft, anencephaly, and down syndrome. Although at this time ultrasound is the safest way to observe a fetus, risks are still associated with it.

That is a great example. I actually have assisted with several MRI visits, and have often heard how dangerous it could be inside. But, there are no liability measures if a person come across a dangerous situation. Like you, I used to be someone very quiet and not ask questions. However, after coming across these scenarios, I would definitely ask questions if in future I have to get into a MRI scan, or even any kind of radiological or neurological testing. I think that people in the community are not aware about this as a person might be needing to do a MRI in order to diagnose the illness that they have. And, in that process they do not really care about the adverse effects of the

While the numbers sound safe and the odds of injury low, amniocentesis has one major drawback. Due to the nature of the technique, the earliest an amniocentesis can be performed is in the second trimester of the pregnancy, approximately the fifteenth week. Once the procedure has been performed, it takes any where from two to four weeks for the results of the cultured cells to be announced. Because of these delays, the anxiety of the parents increase and the options available to the "parents" can become limited.

Modern medicine continues to bring new technology to its patients and is steering in the direction of “Science Fiction” in some areas. Every individual has to decide if prenatal testing “works” for them, if the result is worth the risk of induced stress, miscarriage and/or fetal limb abnormalities. Psalm 127:3 in the Bible says, “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a

There are several prenatal screenings being performed today. The one that seems to be the most famous is an ultrasound scan; this form of testing allows the doctor and the mother to see the baby organs, how well it is growing and determine the sex of the baby. Another screen is the transvaginal ultrasound. And as uncomfortable as it may be the doctor and mother are presented with clearer images of the baby. These form of ultrasound aren't only safe for the baby but for the other as well as no form of radiation is involved. The problem with the transvaginal ultrasound is, in order for the ultrasound to be carried out the tech have to cover the instrument with a covering that contains latex and could possibly cause an allergic reaction in those

Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) is yet another technique that can be performed very early on in gestation-between 9 and 12 weeks. A

Magnetic Resonance Imaging machines, more commonly known as the MRI, are a very popular tool in the medical field because it is painless and it does not use ionizing radiation; which can produce terrible side effects and can even damage your organs.

A pregnant woman may have special tests during pregnancy to make sure that her developing baby (fetus) is healthy. These tests are called fetal monitoring. A contraction stress test, also called an oxytocin challenge test, is one type of fetal monitoring. This test is used to check the baby's heart rate when the womb (uterus) contracts. A health care provider may do this test to see how well the baby will tolerate labor and delivery. A woman may also have a contraction stress test if other fetal monitoring tests suggest that the baby may be at risk during labor and delivery.

In recent years, fetal gene sequencing has been a controversial topic of debate for various reasons. This sequencing gives parents their unborn child’s full genetic complex during pregnancy. Meaning, parents will know in advance the physical traits, any possible disease development, or other complications. Patient care for future generations can be more accurate and efficient with the use of the scanning. There are conflicts between parents on the beliefs over this type of testing. Due to the immorality of obsessive parental influence, fetal scanning should only be used for medical illness prediction.

With intentional exposures comes many thoughts and questions on why. First off, the medical physicist should justify whether or not the exam is needed, risks versus benefits. Then they should communicate this with the patient. Communicating with the patient can be hard. They need to fully understand the risks that may come out of having the exposure. Then the exam needs to executed perfectly for optimization of the exposure, no repeats should be taken. 5 They need to have a small exposure time and appropriate exposure factors. The primary beam should be pointing away from the fetus if there is any way possible and restricting/collimating the beam size as much as possible.6It is very important to get the patient positioned just perfect the first time. It is also very important to collimate just enough and not too much because then you are defeating the purpose. You are actually giving the patient more radiation because something was clipped out of the image that needed to be there if you collimate too

Radiation is energy passed through waves, space or matter. Thinking about energy being passed through matter is pretty scary especially to pregnant women. It is very common for women to take precautions during pregnancies. The energy from the radiation can cause damage to one's fetus, and can be very harmful to a child. Luckily in this day and age, there are machines and safeguards against radiation. In the case of a pregnant woman those safeguards are for Ultrasounds. This procedure uses sound waves to create images of a woman's body using a transducer probe. A safe and painless exam producing no radiation exposure.

Understanding the effects of radiation in utero is an important area of research. Expectant mothers may require examinations involving exposure to radiation to diagnose or treat a medical condition (Nguyen & Goodman, 2012). Radiologists are exposed to radiation each day at work, which is particularly concerning when health professionals become pregnant. In utero development involves massive proliferation and organization of new cells. Ionizing radiation pulls electrons away from atoms and can be particularly harmful for humans in utero (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014; “Ionizing Radiation”, n.d.). Studies designed to determine the effects of radiation are crucial to helping mothers protect themselves as well