Lenticulostriate vasculopathy in neonates: Is it a marker of cerebral insult? Critical review of the literature

Mineralizing Lenticulostriate Vasculopathy: An Emerging Risk Factor for Basal Ganglia Stroke After Minor Head Trauma in Young Children

Mineralizing lenticulostriate vasculopathy is a well-recognized risk factor for basal ganglia stroke after minor head trauma in infants and young children; it is diagnosed on head computed tomography by the presence of basal ganglia calcification, seen as punctate hyperdensities on axial and linear hyperdensities on reconstructed coronal and sagittal images. In children with anterior fontanel window, its presence is suggested by branching hyperechogenic stripes in the basal ganglia region on cranial ultrasound. Brain magnetic resonance imaging, including susceptibility-weighted sequences and brain magnetic resonance angiography, fail to detect calcification or vascular abnormalities. Although its etiology remains unknown, mineralizing lenticulostriate vasculopathy is considered to represent end-stage pathology of lenticulostriate vasculopathy, a neonatal radiographic condition detected during routine neonatal cranial ultrasonographic examination and represents nonspecific finding associated with a multitude of etiologies. The significance of mineralizing lenticulostriate vasculopathy lies in the fact that it has emerged as one of the most common risk factors for basal ganglia stroke in Indian children, accounting for one-fourth to one-half of all causes of stroke in some studies. The outcome of stroke in children with mineralizing lenticulostriate vasculopathy appears to be favorable with the majority achieving complete or nearly complete recovery of their motor functions. Stroke recurrence following repeat head trauma is seen in a small proportion of children despite aspirin treatment.

Basal Ganglia Stroke after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Mineralizing Lenticulostriate Vasculopathy

Although the association between basal ganglia (BG) stroke and mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) is well recognized, its association with lenticulostriate vasculopathy has only recently been described. We present the case of a 6-month-old female infant without personal or familiar relevant records who presented with left-sided hemiparesis and without altered consciousness after a mild TBI. An emergency computed tomography (CT) scan of the brain revealed bilateral linear calcifications along the course of the lenticulostriate arteries. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed an ischemic lesion in the right BG and damage to the posterior limb of the right internal capsule. A few months after the ischemic event, the patient was asymptomatic. Given the clinical, radiological, and evolutionary characteristics of this group of patients, the term mineralizing angiopathy is proposed to define a specific clinical-imaging syndrome in infants who suffer a BG stroke after a mild TBI and present with the calcification of the lenticulostriate arteries.

Lenticulostriate Vasculopathy in Very-Low-Birth-Weight Preterm Infants: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

Background: The pathogenesis and clinical significance of lenticulostriate vasculopathy (LSV) are unclear. Our study aimed to determine the prevalence, presentation, and evolution of LSV, and the perinatal risk factors associated with LSV among very-low-birth-weight (VLBW) preterm infants. Methods: One-hundred-and-thirty VLBW preterm infants were retrospectively enrolled in this study. Serial cranial ultrasound examinations were performed regularly from birth until a corrected age of 1 year. Infants with LSV were assigned to early-onset (≤10 postnatal days) and late-onset (>10 postnatal days) groups. Data describing the infants’ perinatal characteristics, placental histopathology, and neonatal morbidities were collected, and the groups were compared. Results: Of the VLBW infants, 39.2% had LSV before they were 1 year old. Linear-type LSV was the most common presentation, and >50% of the infants had bilateral involvement. LSV was first detected at 112 ± 83 postnatal days, and its detection timing correlated negatively with gestational age (GA) (R² = 0.153, p = 0.005) and persisted for 6 months on average. The infants with and without LSV had similar perinatal characteristics, placental pathologies, cytomegalovirus infection rates, and clinical morbidities. The late-onset LSV group comprised 45 (88.2%) infants who had a significantly higher rate of being small for gestational age (SGA) and used oxygen for longer than the infants without LSV. After adjusting a multivariable regression model for GA and SGA, analysis showed that the duration of oxygen usage was an independent risk factor for late-onset LSV development in VLBW infants (odds ratio: 1.030, p = 0.032). Conclusion: LSV may be a nonspecific marker of perinatal insult to the developing brains of preterm infants. Prolonged postnatal oxygen usage may predispose VLBW preterm infants to late-onset LSV development. The long-term clinical impacts of LSV should be clarified.

Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome: One family, same mutation, different outcome

Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome (SGBS) is a rare X-linked condition characterized by pre and postnatal overgrowth with visceral and skeletal abnormalities. The syndrome is caused mainly by mutations in the X-linked gene GPC3. Clinical presentation of SGBS in affected males is well defined, but there is a lack of knowledge about affected females, with very few reported cases. In total, eight female carriers with clinical expression of SGBS have been reported to date. In the present report, we describe the ninth patient and her family history. The interesting features of our female patient are the Wilms' tumor and the transfontanelar ultrasound findings. The patient's older sister, carrier of the same mutation, has minor facial dysmorphisms but no congenital anomalies and so far, no further clinical findings, as well as her mother and grandmother. There is a lesson to be learned from these rare cases, namely that SGBS may have a significant clinical expression in females, and therefore, screening should be considered in all patients with SGBS regardless of the sex or phenotypic severity.

An extremely severe case of Aicardi-Goutières syndrome 7 with a novel variant in IFIH1

We describe herein an extremely severe case of Aicardi-Goutières syndrome 7 (AGS7). The female patient was the daughter of nonconsanguineous parents and developed cardiomegaly, pericardial effusion, splenomegaly, and intracranial calcification during the fetal period. Because her cardiotocogram showed a non-reassuring fetal status, she was delivered at 29 weeks and 4 days of gestation by an emergency cesarean section. After birth, she suffered from respiratory distress, pulmonary hypertension, refractory fever, recurrent thrombocytopenia, and abdominal distention caused by hepatomegaly and ascites. She showed a lenticulostriate vasculopathy, which was compatible with the fetal intracranial calcification. Despite various intensive care procedures, she died of gradually progressive pulmonary hypertension at 3 months of age. After her death, whole exome sequencing on the patient and the parents was performed and revealed a novel, de novo, heterozygous mutation in the IFIH1 gene (IFIH1:NM_022168:exon12:c.2439A > T:p.Glu813Asp). On the basis of the mutation and the clinical features, the diagnosis was AGS7. Although AGS7 has been regarded as a relatively mild subtype of Aicardi-Goutières syndrome, this case indicates that the c.2439A > T variant of AGS7 can be fatal in early infancy.

Hyperechogenicity of lenticulostriate vessels: A poor prognosis or a normal variant? A seven year retrospective study

BACKGROUND

Lenticulostriate vasculopathy (LSV) is a hyperechogenicity of the lenticulostriate branches of the basal ganglia and/or thalamus' middle cerebral arteries and is frequently seen in neonatology. Our study primarily describes the perinatal data and long-term follow-up of newborns with lenticulostriate vessel hyperechoic degeneration. Secondly, it describes the cerebral imaging data as a function of perinatal factors and neurodevelopmental follow-up of these newborns.

METHODS

This retrospective study assesses the outcome of newborns with LSV hyperechogenicity on cerebral ultrasound (two grades). These children were born between January 2008 and September 2015 and were treated in a large level III neonatal intensive care unit. Thirty-four term-equivalent age children underwent MRIs using a standardized protocol of T2, T1 3D, diffusion and spectro-MRI sequences. The MRIs retrospectively measured the white matter and basal ganglia apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC).

RESULTS

Fifty-eight neonates, ranging from 25 to 42 weeks gestational age (GA), were diagnosed with LSV. There was a significantly increased high-grade LSV when accompanied by fetal heart rate abnormalities (p = 0.03) and the neonate's need for respiratory support at birth (P = 0.002). The mean ADC score was substantially superior in the high-grade versus the low-grade LSVs (p = 0.023). There were no noteworthy outcome differences between a high and low grade LSV. The mean ADC for basal ganglions was appreciably higher in children with a severe prognoses (death or developmental disorder) as compared to children with no abnormalities (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

From the results of our study, it appears that a low-grade LSV could be considered as a normal variant. There are no unifying diagnostic criteria for LSV on cerebral ultrasound. With a cerebral MRI, the use of ADC values of basal ganglia may well underscore the importance of such data in predicting long-term outcomes.

Stroke After Minor Head Trauma in Infants and Young Children With Basal Ganglia Calcification: A Lenticulostriate Vasculopathy?

The authors retrospectively reviewed charts of the children with basal ganglia stroke who either had preceding minor head injury or showed basal ganglia calcification on computed tomography (CT) scan. Twenty children, 14 boys and 6 girls were identified. Eighteen were aged between 7 months to 17 months. Presentation was with hemiparesis in 17 and seizures in 3. Preceding minor head trauma was noted in 18. Family history was positive in 1 case. Bilateral basal ganglia calcification on CT scan was noted in 18. Brain magnetic resonance imaging done in 18 infants showed acute or chronic infarcts in basal ganglia. Results of other laboratory and radiological investigations were normal. Four infants were lost to follow-up, 9 achieved complete or nearly completely recovery, and 7 had persistent neurological deficits. Basal ganglia calcification likely represents mineralized lenticulostriate arteries, a marker of lenticulostriate vasculopathy. Abnormal lenticulostriate vessels are vulnerable to injury and thrombosis after minor head trauma resulting in stroke.