Microcephaly and intracranial calcifications are not the only brain abnormalities that infants born to Zika-infected women are at risk of developing.
In a study, published in RSNA Radiology, researchers documented the imaging findings associated with congenital Zika virus infection as founding an institute in Brazil. From June 2015 to May 2016, 438 patients were referred to the IPESQ for rash occurring during pregnancy or for suspected fetal central nervous system abnormality. Imaging examinations included 12 fetal magnetic resonance examinations, 42 postnatal brain-computed tomographic examinations and 11 postnatal brain MR examinations for 438 patients.
Of the 438 patients, 17 patients had documented Zika in fluid or tissue (confirmed cohort) and 28 patients had "brain findings suspicious for Zika virus infection, with intracranial calcifications" (presumed cohort).
Here are five findings:
1. Fetuses in 16 of the 17 in the confirmed cohort and 27 of 28 in the presumed cohort showed signs of ventriculomegaly.
2. Researchers noted abnormalities of the corpus callosum in 16 of 17 confirmed cohort cases and 22 of the 28 presumed cohort cases, respectively.
3. They found cortical migrational abnormalities in 16 of 17 confirmed cohort cases and all 28 of presumed cohort cases, respectively.
4. Most fetuses underwent at least one examination that showed head circumference below the 5th percentile.
5. The basal ganglia and/or thalamus were also commonly involved with calcifications in 11 of 17 confirmed cohort cases and 18 of 28 presumed cohort cases, respectively.
Additionally, "the skull frequently had a collapsed appearance with overlapping sutures and redundant skin folds and, occasionally, intracranial herniation of orbital fat and clot in the confluence of sinuses," noted the study authors.