PRENATAL SONOGRAPHIC FINDINGS ASSOCIATED WITH SPORADIC SUBCORTICAL NODULAR HETEROTOPIA

Abstract

In Brief Background Subcortical nodular heterotopia is a neuronal migration disorder of uncertain etiology. This disorder occurs primarily in females and has a familial X-linked dominant inheritance pattern. The predominant symptom associated with heterotopia is seizures. Case At 23 weeks' gestation, prenatal sonography disclosed an isoechoic supratentorial intracranial mass causing right-sided shift of midline structures and compression of the contralateral cerebral ventricle. Serial ultrasound examinations of this mass were significant for the absence of invasion into surrounding structures, gross enlargement of cranial biometric parameters, and hydrocephalus and hydrops fetalis. Neonatal magnetic resonance imaging findings were consistent with gray matter heterotopia and were confirmed as such by brain biopsy. Conclusion Subcortical nodular heterotopia manifested unique prenatal sonographic findings. This case suggests the possibility of prenatal diagnosis in families at risk for this lesion. Prenatal ultrasonography at 23 weeks' gestation revealed subcortical nodular heterotopia that presented as an isoechoic intracranial mass displacing midline structures.