Pregnancy outcomes and neurodevelopment in 173 cases of mild or moderate fetal ventriculomegaly / 中华围产医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate pregnancy outcomes and neurodevelopment in fetuses with ventriculomegaly. Methods This was a cohort study of 173 gravidas with singleton pregnancy who were diagnosed with fetal ventriculomegaly by ultrasound in Prenatal Diagnostic Center of Nanfang Hospital Affiliated to Southern Medical University from March 2010 to July 2016. Thirty normal gravidas who received antenatal care in the same hospital and at the same period were selected as control. Clinical data were collected. Gravidas who had chosen to continue their pregnancy were followed up to monitor the variations of fetal ventricular. Fetal mild and moderate ventriculomegaly were respectively defined as a ventricular atrial width of 10-12 mm and >12 mm but <15 mm. Isolated ventriculomegaly (IVM) indicated those without any other ultrasound abnormalities, otherwise the case would be defined as non-isolated ventriculomegaly (NIVM). Among the 173 gravidas, 54 cases were mild IVM, 53 mild NIVM, 26 moderate IVM and 40 moderate NIVM. Fetuses with chromosome abnormalities were excluded from the study. Neonatal behavioral neurological assessment (NBNA) was used to analyze the neonatal neurodevelopment at the age of 7 days, and Bayley scales of infant development was used to evaluate the development of nervous system at the age of 6 months through analyzing their mental development index (MDI) and psychomotor development index (PDI). Statistical methods included t test, χ2 test (or Fisher's exact test), nonparametric test, Mann-Whitney test and multiple Kruskal-Wallis H test. Results (1) Among the 107 fetuses with mild ventriculomegaly, 72.9％ (78), 23.4％ (25) and 3.7％ (4) of them regressed, stabilized and progressed,respectively; however, among the 66 moderate cases, the figures were 45.4％ (30), 37.9％ (25) and 16.7％ (11) respectively (χ2=15.769, P<0.001). For those in the IVM and NIVM subgroups within the moderate ventriculomegaly group, significant difference was shown [17(65.4％), 8(30.8％) and 1(3.8％) vs 13(32.5％), 17(42.5％) and 10(25.0％), χ2=8.552, P=0.014], but not within the mild groups (χ2=2.412, P=0.299). (2) There were 164 gravidas who continued their pregnancy and delivered. Significant differences in NBNA score were observed between the ventriculomegaly group and the control (37.70±1.80 vs 38.53±1.38, t= - 2.424, P<0.05). Numbers of neonates with NBNA score < 36 and ≥ 36 points were 5(4.7％) and 101(95.3％) in the mild group, and 8(13.8％) and 50(86.2％) in the moderate group (χ2=4.231, P=0.004). There was significant difference in NBNA score between the IVM and NIVM subgroup within neither mild nor moderate group (χ2 were 0.210 and 0.201, P were 1.000 and 0.720). (3) Totally, 137 cases completed the assessment of nervous system development at the age of 6 months. There was significant difference in PDI score between the ventriculomegaly group and the control (90.50±10.85 vs 95.80±9.65, t= - 2.471, P=0.014), but not in MDI score (95.42+11.20 vs 99.50+12.00, t= - 1.786, P=0.076). (4) The comparison of the proportion of excellent, average and poor PDI scores Significant differences were found between the IVM and NIVM subgroup within the moderate ventriculamegaly group and in the different intrauterine outcome groups [IVM vs NIVM groups 3(15.0％), 16(80.0％) and 1(5.0％) vs 1(3.1％), 24(75.0％) and 7(21.9％),Z= - 2.097, P=0.036;intrauterine regression, stable and progress group 9(10.6％), 75(88.2％) and 1(1.2％);3(6.5％), 37(80.4％) and 6(13.1％) vs 0, 2(2/6) and 4(4/6), χ2=19.808, P<0.001], but not between the mild and moderate vetriculamegaly group, or between the subgroups within the mild ones (Z were - 1.869 and - 1.946, P were 0.062 and 0.052). (5) The comparison of the proportion of excellent, average and poor scores of MDI Significant difference was only found among the different intrauterine outcome groups[13(15.3％), 71(83.5％), 1(1.2％); 2(4.4％), 41(89.1％), 3(6.5％) vs 0, 5(5/6), 1(1/6); χ2=7.980, P=0.018], but not in any other comparisons (all P>0.05). Conclusions Prognosis of fetal ventriculomegaly is affected by co-existed abnormalities and intrauterine progression. Fetus with mild ventriculomegaly can also have risk of abnormal neural development, suggesting that we should pay much attention to such cases and a regular follow-up is required.