Sonography of fetal choroid plexus cysts: detection depends on cyst size and gestational age

To establish diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of fetal choroid plexus cysts across gestation.

Prenatal sonographic images of 166 fetuses without choroid plexus cysts were prospectively collected from 13 weeks to term. Texture characteristics of the choroid plexus regions were analyzed to quantify changes as a function of gestational age. A set of 20 fetal sonographic images with choroid plexus cysts were used to create cyst prototypes (1.5-2.5 mm), which were randomly embedded into normal choroid plexus images from varying gestational ages. A test set of 544 images was created, which included 408 images with choroid plexus cysts and 136 images without choroid plexus cysts. Four observers following a blinded study design evaluated the presence of choroid plexus cysts in the images. The influence of cyst size and gestational age on the detection of cysts was measured with receiver operating characteristic analysis and analysis of variance. Observer agreement was characterized by agreement kappa statistics.

Texture analysis indicated greater echo texture heterogeneity at earlier gestational ages. The receiver operating characteristic analysis showed a corresponding decrease in diagnostic accuracy for cyst detection at earlier gestational ages. The cyst detection threshold (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.8) was 2.4 mm (SE, 0.2 mm) for 13 to 21 weeks' gestation and decreased to 1.9 mm (SE, 0.17 mm) for 22 to 38 weeks' gestation. Average interobserver and intraobserver kappa statistics were 0.37 and 0.53, respectively.

Because of the changing echo texture of the choroid plexus through gestation, choroid plexus cysts must be at least 2.5 mm in diameter for confident diagnosis before 22 weeks' gestation and at least 2 mm after 22 weeks.