Magnetic resonance imaging measurement of fetal lung volume does not match postnatal survival
- Service de Réanimation Néonatale et Pédiatrique, Rennes Teaching Hospital, Rennes 1 University, Rennes cedex, France
- Correspondence to:
Dr Théophile Gaillot
Service de Réanimation Néonatale et Pédiatrique, Pavillon Le Chartier, CHU Pontchailllou, 35033 Rennes Cedex, France;theophile.gaillot{at}chu-rennes.fr
We read with interest the paper by Bonfils et al1 in which the authors report the prognostic interest of fetal lung volume (FLV) in congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH). FLV was measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and expressed as the ratio of the measured FLV to the expected FLV at the same gestational age given by the normative curve.2 In this study, including 22 neonates with CDH, the best FLV ratio cut-off was 30%, with a mean sensitivity of 0.83 (range 0.55–0.95) and a specificity of 1 (range 0.72–1). Ten neonates had an FLV ratio <30% and all of them died.
We conducted a retrospective study of full-term neonates with a prenatal diagnosis of isolated CDH between November 2003 and March 2006. The FLV ratio was measured by MRI (1.5-T, Siemens Medical System, Rennes Cedex, France). All neonates were inborn and managed as previously described, …
