First-Ever MRI Scan of Newborn at Birth Produced

Doctors for the first time have produced live MRI images of a baby at the moment of birth. The scans could provide valuable new insights into the birthing process and allow future lives to be saved.

"We can now see all the details we previously could only study with probes. These images are fascinating and proved yet again that every birth is a small miracle," the Daily Mail quoted Gynaecologist Ernst Beinder at Berlin's Charite Hospital, as saying.

The team developed a special 'open' scanner, which provided the necessary room for midwives and the mother during the birth.

The creation of the live MRI images of a birth could prove vital in understanding complications during the birthing process and the need for around 15 per cent of women to have a Caesarean section due to the baby not moving sufficiently into the birth canal.

Using powerful magnets, MRI creates a strong field to make some atoms in the body detectable to radio waves. The data can be used to create a cross-section of the patient, which provides detailed depiction of soft tissue and bone structure.

Source-ANI