Antenatal Diagnosis of Iniencephaly: Contribution of Real Time 3-D Ultrasound

Iniencephaly is the rarest form of neural closure defects. It is characterized by incomplete closure of vertebral arches and/or bodies; significant shortening of the spinal column, rotation and retroflexion of head. It can be detected at the end of the first trimester by careful ultrasonographic examination of the fetus. Although, the diagnostic merit of the real time 3 dimensional (3-D) ultrasonography is unclear, it could be utilized by for differential diagnosis to eliminate other neural tube defects and Klippel-Feil Syndrome. In this manuscript, we report two cases of iniencephaly diagnosed at late first and early second trimester with the contribution of the real time 3-D scan.