How much are the skulls of babies crushed at birth? Many, 3D images reveal

When babies cross the mother's birth canal, the tight fit temporarily crushes their head, lengthens their flexible skull and alters the shape of their brain. Today, scientists have created 3D images that demonstrate the extent of this incredible cone – shaped distortion.

Babies' heads can change shape under pressure because the bones of their skull have not yet fused, according to the Mayo Clinic. The soft regions at the top of the head can be compressed by the genital canal and allow the brain to develop during early childhood.

However, the precise mechanisms of how the skull and brain of a baby change shape during delivery are not well understood. To learn more about this process, scientists performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of seven pregnant women: between weeks 36 and 39 of pregnancy, then at delivery, after complete dilation of the cervix of the uterus. [7 Baby Myths Debunked]

Their images reveal significant cranial compression in all infants, known as "fetal head casting," and suggest that pressures on the infant's head and brain at birth are stronger than normal. it was thought, scientists said in a new study.

In the seven fetuses, the researchers wrote that the bones of the skull that did not overlap before work visibly overlapped once the work started, deforming the head and brain of infants. In five babies, the skulls returned to their pre-work form soon after birth, and the deformity was not noticeable in the neonatal examination.

MRI studies have captured soft tissue views that were not ultrasonically visible, providing important clues to understanding the deformity of skulls and fetal brains and the movement of maternal soft tissues around them. ci at birth, according to the study.

The results were published online today (May 15) in the journal PLOS One.

Originally published on Science live.