The occipitum-dens line: the purpose of a new ultrasonographic landmark in the evaluation of the relationship between the foetal posterior fossa structures and foramen magnum.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to describe a new ultrasonographic technique to assess the normal level of the cerebellum and the brainstem in the posterior fossa in normal foetuses and to compare in pathologic cases.

Methods: We propose a new line cross between the dens cervical and the inferior portion of occipitum (occipitum-dens line-ODL). In a cross-sectional study, a single observer with experience in foetal neurosonography evaluated 54 foetuses (40 normal and 14 with open neural tube defect) between 20 and 28 weeks of gestation.

Fetal brain tumors: Prenatal diagnosis by ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging.

Congenital central nervous system tumors diagnosed during pregnancy are rare, and often have a poor prognosis. The most frequent type is the teratoma. Use of ultrasound and magnetic resonance image allows the suspicion of brain tumors during pregnancy.

Agnathia-otocephaly: prenatal diagnosis by two- and three-dimensional ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. Case report.

A case of prenatally diagnosed otocephaly is reported. Otocephaly is an extremely rare malformation characterized by absence or hypoplasia of the mandible and abnormal horizontal position of the ears. 2D ultrasound performed at 25 weeks of gestation revealed agnathia, proboscis and hypotelorism.

Improvement of motor function and decreased need for postnatal shunting in children who had undergone intrauterine myelomeningocele repair.

Objective: To compare neuromotor development between patients who did and those who did not undergo intrauterine myelomeningocele repair.

Methods: Children with myelomeningocele aged between 3.5 and 6 years who did undergo intrauterine repair (Group A, n=6) or not (Group B; n=7) were assessed for neuromotor development at both anatomical and functional levels, need for orthoses, and cognitive function.

Intrauterine myelomeningocele repair postnatal results and follow-up at 3.5 years of age--initial experience from a single reference service in Brazil.

Purpose: Present the outcomes of six cases submitted to intrauterine myelomeningocele (MMC) repair.

Methods: Descriptive observational study of six children submitted to antenatal surgical repair of MMC between 26 and 27 weeks gestation. All deliveries were through cesarean section.

Unusual case of epigastric heteropagus twinning.

Asymmetrical conjoined twins or heteropagus twins are extremely rare. They are characterized by an incomplete component (parasite) that is normally smaller and dependent on the host (autosite). In cases of an epigastric heteropagus twin, the insertion occurs in the epigastrium.

Fetal brain tumors.

Introduction: Fetal intracranial tumors are rare and their evolution is usually poor. With routine use of antenatal ultrasound imaging, a larger number of such tumors have been diagnosed.

Methods: During the period from January 1992 to January 2002, 18 cases diagnosed as intracranial tumors in the fetal stage were treated in the Neurosurgery and Obstetrics Departments of the Federal University of São Paulo and in the Fetal Medicine Service of the Maternity Hospital Santa Joana.