Ingram Publishing/ThinkstockBy DR. JENNIFER ASHTON, ABC News Senior Medical Contributor

It’s common for mothers to undergo ultrasounds during pregnancy. They’re used to look inside the uterus and check development of the baby. But a new study out of the U.K. shows that complementing those ultrasounds with an MRI is even more effective at spotting abnormalities in the baby’s brain.

The study of nearly 600 pregnant women showed ultrasounds accurately detected problems 68 percent of the time. But when combined with an MRI, that accuracy jumped to 93 percent.

Here’s my take: There are many types of tests that pregnant women undergo but it’s important to remember that imaging tests like sonograms or MRIs are not perfect. And while they can describe the structure of fetal organs, they can’t tell us how those fetal parts will function.

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