Fetal Neurosonography in Pregnancies Recovering from COVID-19 Disease.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of severe acute respiratory virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on fetal neurodevelopment in pregnancies recovering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

METHODS: This prospective cohort study included 54 pregnancies at least four weeks after the SARS-CoV-2 infection and 58 controls. In the third trimester, the depths of the fetal insula, Sylvian, parieto-occipital, and calcarine fissures, the length of cavum septum pellucidum (CSP), and the thickness of the corpus callosum (CC) were measured. Sylvian fissure operculization and cortical development were graded. The correlation analysis between fetal cortical development and Sylvian fissure operculization was performed with the Pearson test.

RESULTS: The calcarine fissure depth and CC thickness were reduced in pregnancies recovering from COVID-19 (p<0.001, p=0.004). The fetal CSP length and ratio were increased in the study group (p=0.016, p=0,039). Approximately half of the pregnancies recovering from COVID-19 had Grade 4 or less fetal Sylvian fissure operculization. The study group had a significantly higher rate of fetuses with Grade 2 (31.5% vs. 13.8%) and significantly lower rate of fetuses with Grade 4 cortical development (14.8% vs. 31.0%), compared to the controls. There was a moderate negative significant correlation between pregnancies recovering from COVID-19 and fetal cortical development and Sylvian fissure operculization (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION: This is the first research to investigate fetal cortical development in the pregnancies recovering from COVID-19. The results of our study indicated that COVID-19 disease may affect fetal neurodevelopment.