Fetal Ventriculomegaly

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What is Ventriculomegaly? How Will it Affect My Baby?

You go for an ultrasound, you hear "the ventricles are enlarged", you think "and?"...

You come home and search the net, find out this is called Ventriculomegaly (ven-tric-ulo-megaly) and then frantically search for all the information you can find, which is mostly hard to read medical stuff and your head starts to spin with all the contradictions and variations in findings. That's what happened to me anyway, and I know I'm not alone.

In a rush? VIDEO info below...

VM Forum

Before I go any further - there IS a place where you can read what REAL MUMS are going through...this has been invaluable, re-assuring and the reason this lens is here. Make sure you head over there.

Why This Lens?

For now, this is the quickest way to pull all the scattered information together and unite all those mums who are left in a spin by the news their baby has 'this thing' called ventriculomegaly.

So Much to Get Our Heads Around

The info and advice we get is all over the place! We read and discover that...

VM can be isolated, borderline, mild, moderate, often mixed in with Hydrocephaly, bilateral, a hard marker for Downs Syndrome, a sign of brain abnormalties, caused by infections like toxoplasmosis...there's a lot to get organised on here!

Disclaimer: there is lots of variation in the advice and counselling you will receive, the aim of this site is to bring as much info together in one easy-to-find place so that you judge for yourself after reading all the information, talking to other mums and listening to your Doctor and medical team's opinions.

All the best x

Remember...

Most babies with VM will be fine...

Measurements can come down...

Even severe VM can be treated with a shunt...

Videos about VM 

1

Vote Up

Ventriculomegaly - What is it? 0 points

2

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Ventriculomegaly - Outcomes for My Baby? 0 points

Dr Recommended Information 

These were given to me by the Dr who did MRI, as resources with "reasonable information" in them - when I get chance I'll put them in a proper link list :)

http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site562/mainpageS562P0.html

http://www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/research/sections/endo-repro/radiology/research/intro4.html

http://www.cerebrospinalfluidresearch.com/content/2/S1/S21

http://www.leedsth.nhs.uk/sites/fetal_medicine_unit/fetal_abnormality_databaseventriculomegaly.php

http://www.cerebrospinalfluidresearch.com/content/1/S1/S12

http://www.obfocus.com/questions/qanda10.htm

Blogs from VM Mums 

Many of us have blogs, this is a list of those blogs that might get missed by the other 'Google Blogs' search.
cjengo's Blog
cjengo is a mum from the Ventriculomegaly forum
zacs-mum's Blog
This is my blog - Diary of a WAHM - look for the tags 'ventriculomegaly'.

My profile on the VM forum.
Dylan's Den: June 2008
Dylan was born premature at 30 weeks - then found to have ventriculomegaly. Follow his progress here.

Blogs Featuring Ventriculomegaly 

Make sure you are reading about 'fetal' ventriculomegaly in these blogs...
(Im)patiently Waiting My Turn: (Mild) Ventriculomegaly???
I completly understand your feeling because my little baby boy in mild case too he at 1.5 yesterday. (he is 25 wk and 3d) I have follow up with my ob next Tue. I'll will pray for us and all mommys over the world that have same problem. ...
honkeyplonk: Oh happy days :0)
My baby girl was diagnosed with Ventriculomegaly, and I was also offered... The word 'rollercoaster' is exactly right! But I stood my ground though, and prepared for a 50/50 chance of mental or physical handicap. As it turned out, ...
Isolated Mild Ventriculomegaly
To keep things relatively simple, which I need, they measured a space of liquid in the brain and found that my baby is a 1.18 or a 1.2. Scientists consider 1.0 and below to be normal, but 1.5 and above is reason to worry. ...
honkeyplonk: Pleeeeeaaaaassseee drink up
Baby Hope was diagnosed prenatally with cerebellum hypoplasia and ventriculomegaly. We were advised to...I can't even type it, but obviously we didn't. Fot the first 3 months Hope appeared to be 'normal' - against the odds, ...
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Add Your Comments 

Maybe we could add our cases here (by forum name) and include a link to our profiles on the VM forum?

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  • Reply
    webwahm webwahm Sep 30, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
    Hi - the best place to go is the VM forum with other parents going through this...

    http://www.i-am-pregnant.com/encyclopedia/Babies/Ventriculomegaly&page=1#msg

    It was the source of many hours reading and brings you back to earth a bit because it's not all scare stories like the rest of the info on the web (mostly research).

    Good luck and I hope everything turns out well for you :-)

    [in reply to Baby Garcia # 4]
  • Reply
    Baby Garcia # 4 Baby Garcia # 4 Sep 30, 2009 @ 1:19 am
    Found out at 21 weeks the ventricals were slightly enlarged, went for second ultrasound and confirmed that they are enlarged and measure just slightly large, went for MRI few weeks later and found out that there was old bleed on the right side and this could be the major cause of the ventriculomegaly. Ventricals still measure large and are actually 17mm, went for third ultrasound today and all is confirmed from MRI, amnio is normal and all bloodwork normal, everything else for baby including the rest of the brain is normal. Anyone going through or been through this? Any advice would be great
  • Reply
    G3mma G3mma Jun 12, 2009 @ 3:02 pm
    on my daughters 20 week scan it showed she had mild ventrigularmegly which after a few weeks seemed 2 dissapear, an amnio showed no abnormality and she was born healthy. problems started to appear when she was slow at reaching her milestones. she was nearly 11 months before she could sit and 23 months before she could walk. she has now been statemented by the education authority and attends a special teaching facility at our local school. katie is a happy healthy little girl who doesnt let her disability get her down.she is very loveing and affectionate and i wouldnt change her for the world
  • Reply
    Web-Wahm Web-Wahm Apr 11, 2009 @ 5:57 am
    Hi Hugh

    Congratulations on your son! - so glad you had good news!

    Although we can't be sure why people stop writing about it, I know in my case and a couple of others it IS because it turned out to be ok - and we post occasional updates for the benefit of others in the future. The lack of information on 'what happens after' was a big issue for me and others on the forum at the time.

    Many thanks for your kind comments on this site, it was intended as a central hub for all the info and resources, so glad it worked as intended for you :-)
  • Reply
    hugh hugh Apr 11, 2009 @ 4:44 am
    We had a ventriculomegaly scare at our 20 week scan, with mild ventriculomegaly present, and had 3 follow up scans in the next month as a result. We didn't get much of an idea from the hospital of how worried we should be so we spent the next week browsing the internet and getting scared - there is so much information on the web on cases that turn out to be problematic/worrying, and almost nothing on the majority of cases - those that turn out ok (perhaps because parents for whom it stops being an issue stop writing/blogging about it?)
    It was fine for us in the end and we had a healthy son, Edward, last week. The neo-natal brain scan showed the ventricles as perfectly normal. This site (and in particular the two videos posted on it) was the most useful resource we found on the web.
  • Reply
    zacsmum/webwahm zacsmum/webwahm Apr 7, 2009 @ 3:28 pm
    6 months update...

    Check up with Consultant today; Baby T meeting all the developmental milestones (rolling over, using both hands, following us around the room, attention to sound sources etc) and Consultant happy with her progress; one final brain scan to come and then she may be discharged.
  • Reply
    effie effie Feb 27, 2009 @ 8:06 am
    very scared. just got news yesterday. baby at 19 weeks has 18mm ventricles. very severe. i am looking and praying for a miracle. go for an amnio next week...all other tests normal so far, including level 2 ulrasound. i just want the size to go down and get out of the "severe" category. please pray for my little guy.
  • Reply
    zacs-mum/web-wahm zacs-mum/web-wahm Jan 1, 2009 @ 7:21 pm
    Quick Update...

    My little girl started with 11mm vents, progressed up to 15/16mm. I was told she had a 50/50 chance of mental and/or physical handicap, in varying degrees, including blindness and deafness. They even said she may not be able to look after herself and need a wheelchair.

    She is now 3 months old and there are no signs, as yet, of either mental or physical delays (in fact she started to smile and hold her head up EARLY). She is a perfectly normal looking and acting baby, but she still has enlarged ventricles up to about 14mm now.

    It's hard to think back at all the worry, it's like it never happened.
  • Reply
    Web-Wahm Web-Wahm Aug 1, 2008 @ 4:25 am
    30 weeks and vents are now up to 16mm :( We are now into the severe category...not sure if this is now classed as Hydrocephaly or not, since the head measurements are fine. 50/50 chance now of physical and/or mental problems.
  • Reply
    Dr_Joe Dr_Joe Jul 31, 2008 @ 2:21 am
    Very informative.
    Great lens. Rated it 5 stars.
    Feel free to visit 4D Scan | 4D Baby Scans | Professional Clinics for 4D Baby Ultrasound
    because a healthy body is an investment.
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Conclusions from Large UK Study - Isolated VM 

Outcome of 167 fetuses diagnosed in utero as having apparently isolated ventriculomegaly

This is one of the links my Dr gave me - it's one of the largest studies I've seen (167 babies) and it's written clearly.

If you read it, and recommend it, please use the voting section to vote it up the list.

"Conclusion

When apparently isolated ventriculomegaly is identified on the initial anomaly antenatal ultrasound scanning, parents should be counselled that the majority of fetuses will progress to a normal developmental outcome. Isolated ventriculomegaly should continue to be classified as resolving, stable or progressive and as mild, moderate or severe but the prognosis assigned to each category is only applicable in the absence of further defects. If isolated ventriculomegaly is found to have complicating abnormalities as in approximately one quarter of this series, a significantly worse outcome is indicated. Male fetuses may have a greater mean atrial width than female fetuses as suggested by previous studies [2,3]."

Read study here

New Research 

Etiology, Prenatal Diagnostics and Outcome of Ventriculomegaly in 230 Cases
Karger is a medical publisher, scientific publisher and biomedical publisher of print and online journals and books.

by Web-Wahm

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