Prenatal ventriculomegaly: natural course, survival, and neurodevelopmental status

Prenatal ventriculomegaly is classified as mild, moderate, or severe based on the atrium diameter. The natural course and intrauterine progression of mild and moderate ventriculomegaly associated with the neurodevelopmental status of these children has been widely reported.

One hundred twenty-two pregnancies with mild and moderate ventriculomegaly referred to the pediatric neurosurgery clinic of Children's Medical Center between 2010 and 2018 were retrospectively studied. The authors collected demographic and first and sequential ultrasonographic information, associated abnormalities, information about pregnancy outcomes, and the latest developmental status of these children according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria by calling parents at least 1 year after birth.

The mean gestational age at the time of diagnosis was 29.1 weeks, and 53% of fetuses were female. The width of the atrium was registered precisely in 106 cases, in which 61% had mild and 39% had moderate ventriculomegaly. Information on serial ultrasound scans was collected in 84 cases in which ventriculomegaly regressed in 5, remained stable in 67, and progressed in 12 patients. Fourteen cases (29.7%) in the mild ventriculomegaly group and 6 cases (16.2%) in the moderate group had associated abnormalities, with corpus callosum agenesis as the most frequent abnormality. The survival rate was 80% in mild and 89.4% in moderate ventriculomegaly. Considering survival to live birth and progression of the ventriculomegaly, the survival rate was 100% in regressed, 97% in stable, and 41.6% in progressed ventricular width groups (p < 0.001). Neurodevelopmental status was evaluated in 73 cases and found to be normal in 69.8% of the cases; 16.4% of children had mild delay, and 5.4% and 8.2% of cases were diagnosed with moderate and severe delays, respectively.

In spite of a high rate of missed data in our retrospective study, most patients with mild or moderate ventriculomegaly had a stable or regressed course. Most cases had near-normal developmental status. Prospective studies with a larger sample size and detailed developmental evaluation tests are needed to answer the questions related to the natural course, survival, and prognosis of prenatal ventriculomegaly.