That's great - thanks Stephen. You don't happen to know of any papers I could take a look at on this do you? Thanks, Rhiannon

Fantastic! Thanks.

Stephen is right - both MEG and EEG are no problem at all. I would steer clear of MRI - I suspect very strong magnetic fields might not be foetus friendly. 

Hi Rhiannon,

in my experience, MEG and EEG are friendly techniques in case of pregnacy because they both only sense the electromagnetical activity emerging from the brain. As Stephen mentioned MEG have been perfomed already in fetal studies. Personally I worked with Magnetocardiography in pregnet women to record the cardiac activity of multiple fetus (twins and triplets) during weeks without secondary efects (Processing the magnetocardiographic signal in the identification of fetal and maternal heart beats in a triplet pregnancy).

However, in case of CT, fMRI, PET and NIRS I have my doubts. 

Klein and  Hsu wrote an interesting article touching this topic. This can be a useful reference for you. Take a look: Neuroimaging during pregnancy (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22113508).

Here you have another reference about fetal MRI: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4515352/ .

There are studies and guidelines already for some neuroimaging techniques applied during pregnacy:

• About MRI Evaluation and Safety in the Developing Brain: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4380813/
• Guidelines for the Use of CT and MRI During Pregnancy and Lactation: https://radiology.ucsf.edu/patient-care/patient-safety/ct-mri-pregnancy
• Guidelines for computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging use during pregnancy and lactation: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18669732
• Radiology and pregnancy. Principles, general requirements and exposure [article in german]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22249705
• Radiology and pregnancy : Part 2: clinical recommendations [article in german]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23338250
• Review Safety of diagnostic imaging in pregnancy. Part 2: magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound scanning and Doppler assessment: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1576/toag.12.3.171.27599/pdf

Compendium of National Guidelines for Imaging the Pregnant Patient:  http://www.ajronline.org/doi/abs/10.2214/AJR.10.6351

Imaging of Pregnant and Lactating Patients: Part 2, Evidence-Based Review and Recommendations: http://www.ajronline.org/doi/abs/10.2214/AJR.11.8223

• Protocol for Radiologic Imaging for Pregnant and Lactating Patients: https://www.med.unc.edu/radiology/files-a/protocols/unc-protocol-for-radiologic-imaging-rev-aug-2013
• Interventional radiology in pregnancy complications: indications, technique, and methods for minimizing radiation exposure: http://www.pubpdf.com/pub/22236906/Interventional-radiology-in-pregnancy-complications-indications-technique-and-methods-for-minimizing

On the other hand, here is an rticle about side effects:

• Emergent headaches during pregnancy: correlation between neurologic examination and neuroimaging. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17569963)

I hope these information can be useful to you. Probably you already read those articles.

Have a nice day. All the best for your research !

Hi Heriberto,

That's fantastic, thanks!! I'll have a good look at these... 

Hope you have a great day too, Rhiannon