Association between neuroimaging findings and neurological sequelae in patients with congenital cytomegalovirus infection.

BACKGROUND: Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is an important cause of disability. There is little evidence on the prognostic value of lesions identified in neuroimaging studies.

AIM: The study aimed to assess the severity of lesions detected with brain MRI and transfontanellar ultrasound and their relationship with long-term neurological deficits.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective, analytical, observational study of 36 patients with congenital CMV infection. Neuroimaging studies were reviewed and classified according to the modified Noyola' scale. Imaging findings were compared with neurological alterations in the patients' most recent follow-up evaluation at the paediatric neurology department.

RESULTS: Thirty-six patients were studied (transfontanellar ultrasound: 30; brain MRI: 29). Twenty of 30 patients showed ultrasound abnormalities; of these, 11 showed alterations on brain MR images (P = .04) and 10 had neurological impairment (P = .008). Transfontanellar ultrasound had a sensitivity of 83.3%, 90% CI: 58-100 and a specificity of 44.4%, 90% CI: 18.7-70.2 for predicting neurological sequelae. Brain MRI displayed abnormalities in 20 of 29 patients, of whom 16 had neurological impairment (P < .001). MRI had a sensitivity of 94%, 95% CI: 80-100 and a specificity of 66.6%, 95% CI: 36-97.5 for predicting neurological sequelae. Modified Noyola' scale values > 2 were correlated with psychomotor retardation (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings validate previous studies reporting a statistical significant correlation between the extension of neuroimaging lesions and severity of neurological deficits.