Short oral presentation abstractsMethods: Retrospective study including cases of confirmed fetal CMV infection and control fetuses. In all cases, T2-weighted-MR images obtained for clinical purposes were evaluated. The fetal brain abnormalities were established through ultrasound/MRI. Cortical development was assessed measuring sulci depth and applying maturation score according to Pistorious et al.
Results:We included 24 CMV-infected fetuses (7 unaffected and 17 mildly affected) and 24 healthy fetuses. The median gestational age at MRI was 32.6 (IQR: 31.6-33.6) weeks, with no significant difference between study groups. In CMV-infected fetuses we observed significantly larger lateral ventricle width (lvw), significantly less profound parietooccipital-sulcus (POs) and calcarine-sulcus (Cas), significantly larger Sylvian fissure angle (SFA) (table 1); and significantly lower cortical-grading in temporal-area, parietal-area, parietooccipital-sulcus, and calcarine-sulcus (p < 0.05). Conclusions: CMV-infected fetuses with mild involvement showed a delayed cortical maturation compared with healthy fetuses. These results suggest that congenital CMV infection, even of good prognosis, could be related to altered brain development.
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