[The early diagnosis of congenital neuroinfections during ophthalmologic examination in children of the first months of life].

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the possibilities of early diagnosis of congenital neuroinfections during an ophthalmological examination in children in the first months of life.

MATERIAL AND

METHODS

Five children with congenital neuroinfection, including 2 children with congenital toxoplasmosis and 3 children with congenital cytomegalovirus infection (CMVI), were studied. All babies were born prematurely (25 to 31 weeks of gestation (27.2±0.94)), with birth weight from 680 to 1610 g (1120±110.1). During the examination, binocular ophthalmoscopy and examination on a wide-field retinal pediatric camera were used. A blood testing for immunoglobulins and a polymerase chain reaction of blood were performed. To assess the state of the brain, neurosonography and magnetic resonance imaging were used.

RESULTS AND

CONCLUSION

Ophthalmic signs of intrauterine infection appeared at the age of 4-5 months (at 47-51 weeks of postmenstrual age). In all children (in 4 in one eye, in 1 in both eyes), apparent exudative-proliferative changes in the retina and vitreous body appeared on the periphery with the formation of epiretinal membranes that exert a traction effect on the retina. In two children with CMVI, multiple preretinal hemorrhages in different parts of the retina in both eyes were revealed. Central chorioretinal foci in the fundus were detected in children with toxoplasmosis. A positive dynamics, such as a decrease of exudative phenomena, a partial fit of the retina, complete resorption of hemorrhages, was noted in children during treatment. It has been concluded that signs of intrauterine neuroinfection can appear delayed, only by the development of chorioretinitis, 4-5 months after birth and manifest with severe exudative-proliferative changes in the retina and vitreous body.