Tuesday, 03 July 2012
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MRI of Live Birth
Published this month in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology is a study on childbirth research done in Berlin - where they recorded a live MRI of a woman giving birth. My first thought was how in the world did she fit in there or have the room to birth her baby? Where did those attending her birth fit in this puzzle? And wouldn't that be super loud to a newborn? So I got the details.She gave birth in an open MRI, not a closed one. That explains the room issue. You'll notice if you watch the video (which is only MRI images and not of the mother herself) that the images stop pretty much when the baby crowns and is about to emerge. That's because they didn't want to damage the hearing of the newborn so they had to stop actively scanning.
The MRI images in the video are cinematic, that is they were still frame shots that were put together in sequence, but the sequential timing is not accurate. In other words, she didn't birth her baby in 30 seconds, which is about how long the video is.
If you have difficulty discerning what is what in the video, I'll explain some landmarks to you right below the video.
The first thing to know is that the woman's water has not broken. Yes she is in active labor, delivering her baby. But sometimes the amniotic fluid sac doesn't break until right before the baby emerges. So on the MRI image, under the baby's head you'll see a whitish bladder-looking sac. That's the amniotic fluid sac.
Right above that is the baby's head, he is facing his mother's spine. In fact, you can see his very white eyeball at different times in the video. And so, you also see the mother's spine on the right side of the image. Notice the back of the baby's head (towards the mother's front), you can even see his brain stem going towards his own spinal canal.
It is important to know that on an MRI, unlike X-rays, bones are not white. Air looks black, like in the bowels. Fluids looks whitish.
At the end of the video you can see an attendant's hands. Remember that the MRI stopped as soon as the baby was emerging to protect the baby's hearing.
Very Cool.
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About the Author
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- From: sarahsmurfette@xanga
- About Me: Proud military wife. Mother of two.
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Comments (13)
Neat! And a little terrifying. Makes me glad there were no cameras in my room.
That is really amazing... I wished it was longer so you could see what contractions 'look' like. Having given birth, this is REALLY cool :).
This is so cool, I love it. It's so neat to see labor from the inside. Please pardon my ignorance, but aren't MRIs unsafe for pregnant moms, or was it okay because the baby was fully developed and ready to be born? When I was pregnant with my second child, I was so sick and nearly crippled with pain, and the doctor at the ER ordered an MRI to rule out appendicitis. Just as I was about to go into the machine, the nurse burst into the room to stop the test because my blood work inicated pregnancy. They explained that an MRI was dangerous to my unborn child, and the pregnancy I was unaware of until that moment was most likely causing all the problems.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - I agree. MRI is nothing but magnetic pulses (so they are only harmful for people who carry iron things insie/on them), while a CT scan can be done with radio-active fluids. They are even "dangerous" for people who aren't pregnant. I had 4 CT scans up to now so I'm probably radio-active myself.
The radiation that enters your body through a CT scan has a cumulative effect, once introduced, it never leaves. And over time that can cause cell damage to replicate causing things like cancer. But put that into perspective before you freak, because what doesn't potentially cause cancer these days (except breastmilk lol). That is why it is potentially more dangerous to a baby in utero, his cells are replicating more rapidly than at any other time in his life. And he will likely have many decades of years in front of him for any damage to replicate and potentially manifest itself. Were there times we scanned pregnant women, yes. When the benefit clearly outweighed the risk to both mom and baby (life threatening situations where no other reasonable means could give the same necessary diagnostic information).
Anyways, sorry for the long response. What I meant to say was, no, you are not and could never be radioactive from your CT scan.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - Haha thanks for all the info :) I was just kidding around about being radio-active. But's it;s nice to know it's not really something radio-active. I never really looked it up though, just always thought it was something radio-active. Kinda stupid now I think of it :P
There's something I was wondering for a long time.. Maybe you can answer it for me? When I had my first CT-scan they didn't eject the fluid right, somehow it got under my skin instead of in my veins, and I never felt anything so painful ever before! What exactly happens that causes the pain? Because the rest of the scans were totally painless :) And now I hope I never have to have one ever again ;)
PS; english isn't my main language, so sorry if I have stupid grammar errors.. ;)
@dewdroptear@xanga - Well for whatever reason, the i.v. that was used during your scan was not adequate. That is called "blowing the vein." The catheter in your vein either punctured through the other side of the vein or the pressure from the injection was too much for the vein to hold it. I don't know what kind of scan you had, but that more commonly happened when we did CT Angiograms because we had to use a larger needle and a much higher flow rate for the contrast (it had to go in a whole lot faster so we could singularly catch the blood flow when it was arterial and when it was venous - from the same injection and with as little overflow runoff as possible. Complicated. Not for amateurs. It was my favorite, but also required extra special care with i.v. sites).
So when they were injecting your contrast, your vein blew. The iodine filled the tissue space instead of pushing through the open vein. That causes high pressure, and therefore a lot of pain as you swell up like a ball is under your skin. That fluid isn't meant to be there, although with time and careful treatment it is reabsorbed into the body and there shouldn't be lasting damage. Those injuries should be taken seriously. It was always what we feared (the only thing worse was an unknown true allergy to the iodine and that is a life threatening situation immediately).
And I haven't noticed grammatical errors, maybe my brain is auto-translating if they exist.
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - I'm not sure either. CT angiogram sounds familiar. I got it because I had a pulmonary lung embolism.
I guess it wasn't their fault, because my veins were in "shock". It seems like an interesting job! :) Thanks for your answers!
XX
@dewdroptear@xanga - Yes, for a PE study it is an angiogram. And you're very welcome for any answers I hope I was able to give you. I loved my job, but for now I am home with my children raising them with all the love and time I am lucky enough to be able to share with them. I am keeping my license to practice current though...for the future.
Maybe it was a CT scan.... I don't remember too well because it was 4 years ago and I was in a lot of pain ha ha.
I just. Keep. Watching. That's pretty amazing.
Wow! What a great visualization of birth!