Immunoglobulin fetal therapy and neonatal therapy with antiviral drugs improve neurological outcome of infants with symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Abstract Infants with symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV) suffer from long-term sequelae. This study aimed at evaluating the efficacy of combining immunoglobulin (Ig) fetal therapy (FT) and neonatal therapy (NT) with antiviral drugs to improve neurological outcomes of affected infants. Women whose fetuses had symptomatic cCMV received Ig injection into the fetal peritoneal cavity and/or maternal blood as FT, while affected newborns received oral valganciclovir or intravenous ganciclovir as NT. We compared the neurological outcomes at ≥18 months old between infants receiving FT with or without NT (FT group) and those receiving NT only (NT group). From 2009 to 2019, 15 women whose fetuses had symptomatic cCMV received FT, while 19 newborns received NT only. In FT group, two newborns died, and two were This is the first trial demonstrating that the combination of Ig FT and NT with antiviral drugs may be more effective in improving neurological outcomes of newborns with symptomatic cCMV as compared to NT only.