Prenatal ultrasound for evaluating fetal brain:Visible or invisible abnormalities
Evaluation on fetal brain malformations is the key focus and challenge of prenatal ultrasound.With the improvement of ultrasound equipment resolution and sonographers'understanding of central nervous system disorders,as well as the advancement of neurological ultrasound methodology,more and more brain abnormalities were detected prenatally.But the clinical phenotypes of functional brain abnormalities during fetal period,such as epilepsy,intellectual disability and motor dysfunction,remained not visible by prenatal ultrasound,which is expected to be inferred indirectly by evaluating the development of brain sulci through advanced neurological ultrasound methodology.The status of prenatal ultrasound for evaluating fetal brain were reviewed based on prominence of ultrasonic features,severity of structural or functional abnormalities and prognosis in this article.