Assessment of fetal lung growth in utero with echo-planar MR imaging

PURPOSE: To measure changes in normal fetal lung volume with increasing gestation by using echo-planar magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-six singleton fetuses were examined longitudinally with respect to lung volume by using echo-planar MR imaging between 19 weeks gestation and term. RESULTS: Lung volume increased exponentially with gestation from 8 to 125 mL. Volume was related to gestation by using the equation, volume = 0.8375e(0.1249g) (R-2 = 0.77), where g = gestation. Lung volume had a direct relationship to fetal volume with increasing gestation (R-2 = 0.75). There was no significant relationship between amniotic fluid volume and lung volume (R-2 = 0.11). CONCLUSION: Variation in lung volumes can be assessed by using echo-planar MR imaging, regardless of variations in amniotic fluid volume. These measurements are less than those obtained from postmortem and neonatal studies but are similar to those obtained by using three-dimensional ultrasonography. Lung volume estimations obtained by using echo-planar imaging may have important clinical and research applications when noninvasive assessment of lung volume is required.