Lenticulostriate vasculopathy in infants with infections of the central nervous system sonographic and Doppler findings.

Eleven infants had echogenic stripes in the basal ganglia at the location of the lenticulostriate arteries, seen by head ultrasound. Eight patients had proven infection with rubella (2 patients), cytomegalovirus (2 patients), syphilis (1 patient) or bacterial meningitis (3 patients). Two had probable intrauterine infection clinically, but the organism could not be identified; one had trisomy 13. A recent report correlated these echogenic stripes in patients with viral and syphilitic intracranial infection with pathologically proven mineralizing vasculopathy. Our group manifests a wider range of intracerebral infection associated with this finding. Duplex sonography performed in four infants showed these stripes in vivo to be arteries in the basal ganglia. The lenticulostriate arteries are not normally visible by grey scale sonography but their Doppler signal may be elicited in normal children and they are rendered vividly visible by color Doppler. Echogenicity of these vessels is highly suggestive of intracranial infection because it is not encountered normally or in babies with non infectious intracranial disorders except trisomy 13. The prognostic significance of this finding is yet to be determined.