Comparison of MR imaging and orcein-picroindigocarmine staining method in fetal sectional anatomy

Purpose: there are limited fetal mr anatomy studies in the literature. the aim of this study was to compare the orcein-picroindigocarmine staining method with fetal mr imaging in evaluating sectional fetal anatomic structures. materials and methods: after mr images of 6 human 18-20 week old fetal sections of the head, neck and extremities were taken, the same sections were stained with orcein-picroindigocarmine stain. results: the orcein-picroindigocarmine staining method had some advantages over mr imaging in regards to neurovascular structures and gyrus formation. gyrus formation in the occipital lobe of a 20 week old fetus was detected in the histological specimens whereas it was not detected in the mr images of the same fetus. in the neck region, no evident difference, except for slight details, were identified between orcein-picroindigocarmine staining and mr imaging. particularly in the extremities, orcein-picroindigocarmine staining was found to be superior to mr imaging in differentiating between soft tissue planes, muscle, and neuro-vascular bundles. conclusion: the results from this study warrant further investigation.