Fetal adrenal gland in the second half of gestation: morphometrical assessment with 3.0T post-mortem MRI

Zhonghe Zhang; Haiwei Meng; Zhongyu Hou; Jun Ma; Lei Feng; Xiangtao Lin; Yuchun Tang; Xiaoli Zhang; Qingwei Liu; Shuwei Liu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0075511

Fetal adrenal gland in the second half of gestation: morphometrical assessment with 3.0T post-mortem MRI

PLoS One. 2013 Oct 7;8(10):e75511. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0075511. eCollection 2013.

Authors

Zhonghe Zhang¹, Haiwei Meng, Zhongyu Hou, Jun Ma, Lei Feng, Xiangtao Lin, Yuchun Tang, Xiaoli Zhang, Qingwei Liu, Shuwei Liu

Affiliation

¹ Department of Medical Imaging, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China ; Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, Shandong, China.

Abstract

Background: The morphometry of fetal adrenal gland is rarely described with MRI of high magnetic field. The purpose of this study is to assess the normal fetal adrenal gland length (AL), width (AW), height (AH), surface area (AS) and volume (AV) in the second half of gestation with 3.0T post-mortem MRI.

Methods and findings: Fifty-two fetal specimens of 23-40 weeks gestational age (GA) were scanned by 3.0T MRI. Morphological changes and quantitative measurements of the fetal adrenal gland were analyzed. Asymmetry and sexual dimorphism were also obtained. The shape of the fetal adrenal gland did not change substantially from 23 to 40 weeks GA. The bilateral adrenal glands appeared as a 'Y', pyramidal or half-moon shape after reconstruction. There was a highly linear correlation between AL, AW, AH, AS, AV and GA. AW, AH, AS and AV were larger for the left adrenal gland than the right. No sexual dimorphism was found.

Conclusions: Our data delineated the normal fetal adrenal gland during the second half of gestation, and can serve as a useful precise reference for anatomy or in vivo fetus.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adrenal Glands / anatomy & histology*
Adrenal Glands / embryology
Female
Fetus / anatomy & histology*
Fetus / embryology
Gestational Age
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Grants and funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 31071050; 81001223; 81300497), Shandong Province Young and Middle-Aged Scientists Research Awards Fund (No. BS2010YY042; BS2010YY048; BS2012YY009), and the scientific and technological research project of Shandong provincial population and family planning commission (The 12th fund in 2011). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.