A NEWBORN BABY WITH INTRACRANIAL CALCIFICATION

A male infant born normal vaginally, 38 weeks gestational age, 3300 g body weight, was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for hydrocephalus. A ultra-sound examination at 2 days of age showed common intracranial calcification (ICC) and hydrocephalus (Figure 1). What is your diagnosis ? Intracranial calcification is a common pediatric neuroradiological abnormality, with a myriad of etiologies. On the other hand, fetal ICC is an unusual abnormality detected either by sonography or at autopsy, with a more limited differential diagnosis. ICC is most commonly encountered with intrauterine infections (toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex, and parvovirus), but non-infectious causes have also been described (1,2).