The Effect of Postnatal Cytomegalovirus Infection on (Micro)structural Cerebral Development in Very Preterm Infants at Term-Equivalent Age

Introduction: There are some data indicating a negative impact of postnatal cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection on long-term neurodevelopmental outcome of preterm infants. So far, there is only little knowledge about a cerebral imaging correlate of these neurodevelopmental alterations induced by postnatal CMV infection in preterm infants. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of postnatal CMV infection on the incidence of brain injury and on microstructural brain maturation in very preterm infants at term-equivalent age. Methods: Infants 5 postnatal days. We compared brain injury as well as fractional anisotropy and apparent diffusion coefficient in 14 defined cerebral regions between infants with and without postnatal CMV infection. Results: 401 infants were eligible, of whom 18 (4.5%) infants had a postnatal CMV infection. There were no significant differences in rates of brain injury or in microstructural brain development between both groups. This applied equally to the subgroup of infants