Neuroimaging dell’infezione congenita da Citomegalovirus.

CMV infection has a prevalence of about eighty percent in the general population and more than two percent in newborns. Congenital CMV infection represents a major cause of nonfamilial deafness. About one in ten will present with symptoms at birth, and the majority of these will develop sensorineural and neurodevelopmental sequelae. Although asymptomatic infants represent the vast majority, more than one in ten will develop early or late onset hearing loss. CMV shows a pronounced tropism for neural stem progenitor cells and other nervous system cell populations, causing potentially severe morphostructural abnormalities in the developing brain. Critical structures of the inner ear and their homeostasis are similarly damaged resulting in potentially severe loss of function. Various imaging modalities, often complementing each other, play a pivotal role in the diagnosis, prognosis, and in parental counseling. Among those, MRI plays a key role due to inherent advantages including high spatial and contrast resolution and the use of nonionizing radiation.