Promising alternative to invasive post-mortem

A study led by Sudhin Thayyil from the UCL Institute of Child Health published today in The Lancet today has shown that a less invasive approach to post-mortem is effective in the diagnostic study of small human foetuses. It is hoped that the breakthrough approach, which uses high resolution (also known as high-field) Magnetic Resonance Imaging? (MRI) offers an alternative to traditional autopsy - an invasive technique that is subject to low rates of parental consent in the UK. Post-mortem examination is key to giving experts an understanding of why fpetuses don't survive in pregnancy and contributes to the development of improved assessments for antenatal diagnosis. Whole-body MRI was performed on 18 foetuses of less than 22 weeks gestation before a traditional autopsy was performed. Images from the MRI were compared with the findings of invasive autopsy and assessed for diagnostic accuracy and image quality by a team of specialist paediatric radiologists. Sudhin Thayyil, a researcher at the UCL Institute of Child Health and the Cardiology unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust, led the preliminary study. He explained the results: 'Overall, the diagnostic data from high-field MRI was similar to that provided by the invasive autopsy in these selected cases.