Diffusion Tensor Imaging Shows Promise as Monitoring Tool After Spina Bifida Fetal Surgery
Published April 2020 | Child’s Nervous System
Fetal surgery has emerged as a potentially superior method for correcting myelomeningocele (MMC), the most severe form of spina bifida. When successful, this surgery can reduce the risk of children being born with hydrocephalus or with paralysis.
Now, clinicians have a more effective tool for evaluating the success of fetal surgery and for predicting the need for further procedures.
A team led by Francesco Mangano, DO, FACS, FAAP, FACOS, and Weihong Yuan, PhD, reports that an MRI scanning process called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can detect abnormalities in the brain’s white matter among fetal surgery patients that do not appear in children without spina bifida.
Specifically, the imaging revealed lower fractional anisotropy values and higher mean diffusivity values in the fetal surgery group. This information can be useful in deciding whether a patient needs a shunt as a follow-up procedure.
“The sensitivity of DTI in detecting white matter abnormality, as shown in the present study, may help to serve as an imaging biomarker for assessing hydrocephalus and improve and optimize decision making for the treatment of hydrocephalus in this patient population,” the co-authors state.
