The value of magnetic resonance imaging in congenital cytomegalovirus infection: a systematic review

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection can lead to severe neurodevelopmental and hearing impairments. Imaging techniques can be used both pre- and postnatally to assess early signs of infection. The objective was to provide a systematic review of current literature regarding magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its value to predict clinical outcome in children with cCMV. PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched for studies investigating MRI in cCMV between 2016-2024. Risk of bias was assessed using Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scales. Descriptive synthesis was performed. Twenty studies were included. MRI detected brain abnormalities in 5.0-53.0% of infected patients prenatally and 26.9-69.0% postnatally. The three most frequently detected abnormalities included white matter lesions, subependymal cysts, and ventricular dilatation. Symptoms at birth, first trimester seroconversion, and high viral load were associated with abnormal MRI; however, brain abnormalities were still found in 33-37% of clinically asymptomatic patients. Prenatal MRI had a negative predictive value of 94-100% and a positive predictive value of 12-60% for predicting adverse clinical outcome. Five in six studies found an association between MRI abnormalities and neurodevelopmental impairments, five in eight with (congenital) hearing loss. MRI detected additional abnormalities in 5.6-19.4% of children with normal ultrasound. In conclusion, MRI can detect a wide range of brain abnormalities, both pre- and postnatally, in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. MRI can be a helpful tool in the prediction of clinical impairments and seems complementary to ultrasound. Therefore, both fetal and neonatal MRI should be considered in the standard work-up of all cCMV-infected children.