MRI shortly after birth

Whilst still in hospital…

All babies will have an MRI. The preterm infants will have two scans, one around their birth date, and another around their full term date. Term infants will have just the one scan before they are discharged from the hospital.

What will this tell us?

The two scans will provide a longitudinal look at the preterm brain development, allowing us to investigate any areas effected by the stress of early birth. The term scans will allow us to make direct comparisons of term and preterm brains at 37-42 weeks gestation, to see if the preterm brain has continued to develop as it should have done in the womb.

What is an MRI scan?

An Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI scan, takes a picture of your baby’s brain using a magnetic field. This imaging method allows medical professionals to learn more about the anatomy of your child’s brain, without exposing them to radiation as they would in for example, an X-ray.

Is this safe for the babies?

As far as medical science knows, MRI is not harmful in any way to the infants. Many studies have been conducted and no adverse effects have been observed in all the time MRI scans have been in use.

The machines are noisy but to protect the infants ears, we use ear plugs and ear muffs to block out the sound. We use a 'feed and wrap' method with the scans, leaving the babies full and sleepy when they are put into our specially designed incubator. Once in this incubator, they are taken to the machine, scanned and not removed from the incubator until back on the post-natal/neonatal ward.

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Preterm Development Project

Preterm Development Project