Early experience of multi-sequence fetal cardiac magnetic resonance imaging within a clinical fetal cardiology service

Background Prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease is important to ensure both informed parental counselling before birth, and effective planning of potentially life-saving interventions after birth. MRI offers a safe, radiationfree adjunct to conventional diagnostic modalities, particularly in mothers with high BMI or at later gestations where ultrasound may be limited. However, cardiovascular imaging in the fetus presents several challenges, not least due to the small size and constant motion of the fetal heart, the lack of external cardiac gating, and gross fetal and maternal motion. We present our initial experience of 20 fetal cardiac MRI cases, each referred following fetal echocardiographic assessment to resolve specific points of diagnostic uncertainty.