PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Widjaja, E.
AU  - Geibprasert, S.
AU  - Mahmoodabadi, S. Zarei
AU  - Brown, N.E.
AU  - Shannon, P.
TI  - Corroboration of Normal and Abnormal Fetal Cerebral Lamination on Postmortem MR Imaging with Postmortem Examination
AID  - 10.3174/ajnr.A2193
DP  - 2010 Nov 01
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
PG  - 1987--1993
VI  - 31
IP  - 10
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/31/10/1987.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/31/10/1987.full
SO  - Am. J. Neuroradiol.2010 Nov 01; 31
AB  - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The presence of normal fetal cerebral lamination of the germinal matrix, intermediate zone, subplate layer, and cortex can be used as a marker of normal fetal cerebral development. Our aim was to compare postmortem MR imaging assessment of normal and abnormal fetal cerebral lamination on T1- and T2-weighted images with histopathology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-five formalin-fixed brains from postmortem fetuses, ranging from 16 to 30 weeks' gestational age, mean of 23 weeks, underwent T1- and T2- weighted MR imaging and subsequent sectioning and histologic examination. The cerebral lamination was graded as normal or abnormal on T1- and T2-weighted imaging and compared with postmortem findings. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of T1 and T2 assessment of cerebral lamination were calculated. RESULTS: Twenty-six fetuses had abnormal and 29 had normal cerebral lamination on histology. On T1, the overall sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of evaluating cerebral lamination were 96.15%(CI, 78.42%–99.80%), 89.66%(CI, 71.50%–97.29%), 89.29%(CI, 70.63%–97.19%), and 96.29%(CI, 79.11%–99.80%), respectively. On T2, the overall sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of evaluating cerebral lamination were 73.08%(CI, 51.95%–87.65%), 96.55%(CI, 80.37%–99.82%), 95.00%(CI, 73.06%–99.74%), and 80.00%(CI, 62.54%–90.94%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Postmortem MR imaging has high sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values in assessing fetal cerebral lamination compared with histology. T1-weighted imaging has a higher sensitivity and negative predictive value, while T2-weighted imaging has a higher specificity and positive predictive value. CcortexCIconfidence intervalGgerminal matrixIintermediate zoneMRIMR imagingNPVnegative predictive valuePPVpositive predictive valueSsubplate layer