OBJECTIVE:

To know the contributions of magnetic resonance imaging, as a complementary study to ultrasound, in the diagnosis of fetal malformations in the central nervous system, musculoskeletal and thorax in two units of Maternal Fetal Medicine.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Retrospective, observational and comparative cross-sectional study, based on the review of medical records recorded during three years of patients with more than 18 weeks of pregnancy referred to the Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit of Hospital San José and Clínica Colsubsidio, for any fetal structural malformation identified in the central nervous system, musculoskeletal and thorax diagnosed based on ultrasonography.

RESULTS:

We reviewed 109 clinical histories of pregnant patients with fetuses diagnosed with congenital malformation by ultrasound. The most frequent indications were abnormalities of the central nervous system in 61.5%: non-communicating hydrocephalus in 36.6% by ultrasound and 21% by MRI, followed by those of the thorax with 40.4% by ultrasound and 36.7 by MRI and malformations of the musculoskeletal system 20.1% by ultrasound and 2.8% by MRI. The diagnostic agreement between ultrasound and postnatal diagnosis was 66% and that of MRI was 76%. Compared to initial ultrasound, MRI increased the frequency of diagnosis of fetal malformation.

CONCLUSION:

MRI, complementary to ultrasound diagnosis of congenital malformations, was more notable in the central nervous and musculoskeletal systems where it allowed improving the characterization of the alterations detected by ultrasound.

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