Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 11, Issue 9 459-463, Copyright © 1992 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Sonographic evaluation of pregnancies with maternal varicella infection

D. H. Pretorius, I. Hayward, K. L. Jones and E. Stamm
Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego.

We reviewed 37 cases of mothers who had varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection during early pregnancy, who subsequently underwent fetal sonography in the 13th to 37th week of gestation. Of the five infants later shown to have congenital varicella infection at postnatal examination (1 case) or autopsy (4 cases), all showed ultrasonographic abnormalities suggesting infection, and all died by 4 months of age. None of the 32 unaffected infants demonstrated in utero ultrasonographic abnormalities. No statements about relative risk of being affected by the virus can be made from this data.

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