Doctors produce 'first-ever MRI of baby at moment of birth'

The pictures were taken after a German mother agreed to give birth inside a magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI) scan machine, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
Gynaecologist Ernst Beinder at Berlin's Charité Hospital said the birth proceeded "normally", and the machine could film all the movements and processes that went on inside the womb.

"We can now see all the details we previously could only study with probes. These images are fascinating and proved yet again that every birth is a small miracle," Beinder was quoted by the British newspaper as saying.

The hospital said several expectant mothers had volunteered to participate in the experiment and five more births would be imaged with an MRI machine.

While most MRI machines are tube-shaped, the Charité team developed a special "open" scanner which provided the necessary room for midwives and the mother during the birth. This is because the hospital doctors planned the experiment for two years before this week's successful culmination.

In fact, to protect the participants during this week's historic birth, the mother wore earmuffs to block out the noise while the machine was switched off when the amniotic sack surrounding the baby opened, to prevent the newborn's hearing being affected.

Using powerful magnets, MRI creates a strong field to make some atoms in the body detectable to radio waves. The data can be used to create a cross-section of patient, which provides detailed depiction of soft tissue and bone structure.
MRI scans are considered safer than X-rays but are disliked by patients to the loud buzzing noise made by the scanner as it processes images.