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The development of ultrafast sequences has led to a significant improvement in fetal MRI. Imaging protocols have to be adjusted to the rapidly developing fetal central nervous system (CNS) and to the clinical question. Sequence parameters must be changed to cope with the respective developmental stage, to produce images free from motion artefacts and to provide optimum visualization of the region and focus of interest. In contrast to postnatal studies, every suspect fetal CNS abnormality requires examination of the whole fetus and the extrafetal intrauterine structures including the uterus. This approach covers both aspects of fetal CNS disorders: isolated and complex malformations and cerebral lesions arising from the impaired integrity of the feto-placental unit.

Thirty-eight patients with biochemically proven Wilson's disease underwent magnetic resonance-imaging (MRI) of the brain as well as neurological examinations. The patients were scanned using spin-echo (SE) sequences; the neurologist was looking for typical symptoms: dysarthria, tremor, ataxia, rigidity/bradykinesia and chorea/dystonia. Pathological MR findings believed secondary to this uncommon inherited disorder of copper metabolism were found in twenty-two subjects. Focal abnormalities were seen in the lenticular, thalamic and caudate nuclei as well as in brain stem and white matter; these lesions were best demonstrated on T2-weighted sequences as hyperintense areas. In eight patients we found diffuse brain atrophy with consecutive widening of the ventricular system. Five subjects showed mild, nineteen severe neurologic deficits. Generally there was no correlation between MR findings and clinical neurological symptoms; the impairment of cell-metabolism causing functional alterations of the brain precedes morphological changes. During treatment with the copper chelator D-penicillamine there seemed to be a phased course of disease. Shortening of T1-relaxation due to paramagnetic influence of copper was not seen; a possible explanation could be intracellular deposition--a proton-electron-dipolar-dipolar-interaction would therefore be impossible.

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