Intracranial calcification in the infant and neonate: evaluation by sonography and CT.

Abstract

This study reports the sonographic and computed tomography (CT) findings in seven infants and neonates with intracranial calcifications and a spectrum of underlying disorders, including toxoplasmosis, cytomegalic inclusion disease, transverse/straight sinus thrombosis, and probable anoxia. Neurotropic infectious disease usually produced clumped or subependymal calcifications accompanied by sometimes bizarre ventricular configurations and prominent periventricular cystic encephalomalacia. Sonography failed to identify prospectively intracranial calcifications in two of the three patients without infection, although calcifications were visible in retrospect. Overall, CT provided optimum visualization of intracranial calcifications.

Lenticulostriate vasculopathy in twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome

“…5 Initially described in neonates in1983, LSV has since been reported in many neonatal conditions such as congenital infection, chromosomal aberrations and TTTS. [2][3][4][5]8 It has an incidence of 2.5% among babies in NICU. 4 The lenticulostriate arteries are perforating branches of the middle cerebral arteries.…”

“…1 Lenticulostriate vasculopathy (LSV) is an abnormal finding on cranial ultrasounds of sick babies and has been associated with congenital infection, chromosomal aberration and twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). [2][3][4][5] The clinical significance of this condition on the neuro-developmental outcome of a neonate has not yet been fully determined. 6,7 We describe a previously unreported situation of LSV being detected in a set of identical twins with TTTS.…”

Effectiveness of prenatal treatment for congenital toxoplasmosis: a meta-analysis of individual patients' data

“…In addition, North and South American studies (mainly based on neonatal screening) were excluded because they used computed tomography (CT) scan to screen for intracranial lesions. This method is more sensitive than cranial ultrasound (US) scan 20,21 .…”

“…We excluded cohorts from America in the meta-analysis because of differences in the burden of the disease, the risk of clinical manifestations 19 , the parasite strain 29,30 , and the way in which intracranial lesions were measured (CT versus ultrasound scan) 20,21 . Further studies are required to compare outcomes in treated and untreated mothers within South…”

Association between Lenticulostriate Vasculopathy (LSV) and Neonatal Intraventricular Hemorrhage (IVH)

“…For unknown reasons, the pathologic lesion was limited exclusively to the blood vessel walls of the thalami and basal ganglia. In 1985, Grant et al 2 provided the first cranial imaging description of the lesion. Later in the same decade, Teele et al 3 studied this question exhaustively during their review of nearly 4500 head ultrasounds (HUS) at Children's Hospital, Boston.…”