Clinical features of infants with subependymal germinolysis and choroid plexus cysts

Periventricular cysts are not rare findings in neonates. However, they are sometimes associated with serious clinical complications, such as congenital viral infections and anomalies.

We performed a retrospective follow-up study on newborns who had periventricular cysts on routine cranial ultrasound examination.

We followed 13 infants (three preterm) with periventricular cysts. Ten had single or multiple germinolysis cysts and the remaining three had choroid plexus cysts. All infants had various kinds of underlying complications, including congenital viral infection (two with cytomegalovirus and one with rubella),Sotos syndrome (n = 4), intrauterine growth retardation (n = 5), large-for-dates(n = 4), congenital heart disease (n = 1),myelomeningocele (n = 1) and other minor anomalies. All cases of germinolysis except for one developed a neurodevelopmental abnormality and/or delay. In contrast,all three cases with choroid plexus cysts appeared to develop well,despite the underlying complications.

Germinolysis cysts seem to be associated with systemic diseases and should be treated as a high-risk sign for impaired neurological development.