The Study On The Relationship Between The Angle Of The Twelfththoracic Nerve And The Main Trunk Of Spinal Cord And The Changes Of Gestational Age During Normal Fetal Development

ObjectiveTo study the relationship of the included angle of the twelfth pairs of thoracic nerve and the main trunk of spinal cord in fetus of different gestational weeks,to enrich the database which included many related parameters about the development of fetal spinal cord,and to provide the basis for the dysplasia of fetal spinal cord and spinal nerve in prenatal diagnosis.Materials and methods38 cases of specimens from normal fetuses at different gestational weeks was being scanned with 3.0T high field magnetic resonance.Then we selected the twelfth rib as a reference to determine the location of intervertebral foramen,and then determine the twelfth of spinal nerve.Finally we measured the trunk angle between the spinal cord and the twelfth of spinal nerve,and did statistical research about the data and gestational weeks.ResultsThe angle decreases with the increasing gestational age at the second and third trimester,showing a linear correlation.The correlation equation is:the right angle(°)= 49.327-0.704 × gestational weeks,R2 = 0.965,P<0.05;the left angle(°)=48.265-0.67×gestational weeks,R2=0.952,P<0.05.There were no statistically significant differences in angle of either side and in gender.ConclusionThe spine,spinal cord,spinal nerve and other related structures can be showed clearly by 3.0T high field MRI and the spinal nerves can be observed clearly.The trunk angle between the spinal cord and the twelfth of spinal nerve decreases with the increasing gestational age.The study enriched the anatomic map and the related data about the development of fetal spinal cord.