In a World First, German Doctors Capture MRI Images of Live Childbirth

By Rebecca Boyle Posted 12.08.2010 at 4:52 pm 7 Comments

New View of Childbirth The baby's head is shown just before crowning. Charité - University Medicine Berlin

For the first time, doctors have imaged a live birth using a special MRI machine, hoping to illuminate the birthing process and understand how complications may develop. The mother and baby — who was born Nov. 20 — are both doing fine, according to doctors at Berlin's Charité hospital, who announced the results today.

The mother agreed to give birth inside the MRI machine, which was specially designed to be larger than the typical narrow cylinder. She still had to wear earmuffs to block out the high-frequency noise, as CNET points out. To protect the baby’s hearing, the machine was shut off just before the amniotic sac opened.

Everything went smoothly and doctors were able to watch the first stages of birth in 3-D. Previous scanners and probes have not been able to provide that level of detail or were too dangerous for mother and child, Reuters reported.

Dr. Christian Bamberg, one of the doctors involved, told Reuters the images show which movements the fetus makes in the birth canal, how its bones move and how its head changes shape during birth. All that information can help explain how a birth stalls, which forces a C-section in about 30 percent of births in America.

The images were a culmination of a two-year research project that started with building the open-sided MRI scanner, according to a Charité press release.

Voluntarily giving birth while inside an MRI — all I can say is wow. You will forever have my respect, anonymous German woman.

[The Local]

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7 Comments

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twobrain

12/09/10 at 4:01 am

To protect the babies hearing? Wow that was misguided. Sound travels differently in fluid. Note the babies ears are filled with fluid that probably had an equivalent sound to a depth charge for the baby. The mothers stomach would have acted as a resonator.

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drchuck1

12/09/10 at 8:09 am

i am sure they would have thought of that, amusing how most people think they know more than the experts from a generally discriptive artice...not

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twobrain

12/09/10 at 1:00 pm

I am not most people I was a craftsmen level mechanic on fighter jets so I understand sound and physics. More to the point now I am going through med school. Prior to either of those. I studied some marine biology which did include study of sound waves in aqueous environments.
Since you are a comment trash talker, maybe you the person that calls out informed people can start with telling us: what portion of the head is most sensitive to sound and when not protected in loud environments contributes most to hearing loss and tinnitus?

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carlosv72

12/10/10 at 4:12 am

Well, twobrain, if the sound generates within a single fluid, like water or amniotic fluid, it will be transmitted like you said, but I'm sure the MRI was not under water and the sound waves went through air before hitting the mom's belly and continue, VERY diminished, into the baby's ears... if you've ever been in a pool, under water, I bet you have experienced the frustration of not being able to hold your breath under water while listening to BARRY MANILOW... You could have gotten so lucky....

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OrdinaryMouse

12/10/10 at 7:55 am

Does anyone else see the baby resembling Homer Simpson? :) Come on!

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twobrain

12/10/10 at 1:35 pm

Yes and have had multiple MRI's and some other scans the pounding noise made is significant. Its tone is a tone that passes well. It was (perception due to tone, and/or frequency) louder than the planes I worked on (177 decibels (dB)) The sound was penetrating at least it was to me I could feel it inside.

The line of thinking you have would suggest that the parents that talk to the bellies of mom cold never be heard. If I am not mistaken there is something somewhere that does show a response to the talking of the parents.

Whispering is roughly 30 dB

normal talk 60-70 dB

My guess to the magnet slaps in an MRI tube is probably around 125-140 dB That is my guess because the sound is just slightly louder than the sound from my .45 and open ended .22 magnum (oddly enough the .22 is louder than all of my other firearms)
My reason for guessing a lower dB than the jets I worked on is based on the tone of the claps the MRI makes.

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twobrain

12/10/10 at 1:36 pm

As to it looking like homer not so much, but I do see one of the mother brain variants from Metroid.

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