Femur-Sparing Pattern of Abnormal Fetal Growth in Pregnant Women from New York City After Maternal Zika Virus Infection

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus, which can induce fetal brain injury and growth restriction following maternal infection during pregnancy. Prenatal diagnosis of ZIKV-associated fetal injury in the absence of microcephaly is challenging due to an incomplete understanding of how maternal ZIKV infection affects fetal growth and the use of different sonographic reference standards around the world. We hypothesized that skeletal growth is unaffected by ZIKV infection and that the femur length can represent an internal standard to detect growth deceleration of the fetal head and/or abdomen by ultrasound.

Source: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology - May 5, 2018 Category: OBGYN Authors: Christie L. Walker, Audrey A. Merriam, Eric O. Ohuma, Manjiri K. Dighe, Michael Gale, Lakshmi Rajagopal, Aris T. Papageorghiou, Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, Kristina M. Adams Waldorf Tags: Original Research: Obstetrics Source Type: research