Ventriculomegaly

How can ventriculomegaly affect my child?

Ventriculomegaly

The ventricular system contains sac-like pockets that are filled with cerebrospinal fluid. When the ventricular system of the brain is enlarged, it is known as ventriculomegaly. The lateral ventricles of the brain are less than 10 mm wide in a healthy fetus. However, a fetus that suffers from ventriculomegaly has lateral ventricles measuring 10-15 mm wide. Sometimes they are even larger, in which the case is severe. Luckily, ventriculomegaly is not linked to other health conditions in most cases. Severe cases of ventriculomegaly can result in hydrocephalus, also known as water on the brain. In hydrocephalus cases, the cerebrospinal fluid builds up and puts pressure on the brain.

There are three major causes of ventriculomegaly. Improper brain development, destroyed brain tissue and insufficient absorption of cerebrospinal fluid are all factors that can make the ventricles in the brain larger. Sometimes chromosomal problems can cause ventriculomegaly.

Ventriculomegaly affects approximately 1 out of 1,000 live births and is normally nothing that the mother has done. The condition can be diagnosed before or after birth. Ventriculomegaly can be detected on ultrasound by the second trimester. An MRI can also be helpful in diagnosing the condition. A chromosomal analysis can be used to test for chromosomal problems that can cause the condition.

The only time that ventriculomegaly needs to be treated is when there is water on the brain. Even if there is no water on the brain, regular exams should be done to monitor the condition. Once the baby has been born, doctors will do exams and measure the head circumference to make sure the baby is healthy. Usually, ventriculomegaly will resolve on its own and there are no neurological or developmental problems. As long as there are no other health conditions or chromosomal abnormalities present, the long-term prognosis for a child born with mild to moderate ventriculomegaly is great.

Comments: Ventriculomegaly

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mariska - 1 days ago.
Hi everyone, I am sorry to hear about the bad news of some of your little ones!. I had my baby boy august 2008. (Lateral VM up to 12.4mm during pregancy and a genetic disorder 45X/ 46XY) Just to update for you all (verry positive) Benjamin went for a routine check up at the VU (hospital NL) at the age of 14 months. He is measuring ok, his head still a bit higher in the curves then the rest of him ;) but the doctor says he is doing really well, like any child actually.Benjamin does not have to come in for another year. He is now playing hide and seek all day long and he is really enjoying it :). He is not walking on his own but uses everything around him to cross the room. pics and full story you can read by clickin on my name. For all future/new moms and dads, hang in there! Mariska

jess2008 - 3 days ago.
Yes, when it goes the other way Caroline........it can be heartbreaking. The VM is just a small part or perhaps a symptom of something bigger in the end of what our kids face. It was just the first visible sign on the u/s at 20 weeks that something was wrong and in some of the kids that something went very wrong. All the DHA or other supplements wont change the outcome. The reality is much different from those who have mild to moderate vm.

my4thbaby - 4 days ago.
Hi everyone. I've not been about much recently... I suppose I feel like vm is now quite an insignificant part of Hope's many problems. Though it was the first sign all was not as well as it should be. Until 3 months Hope was doing really well, then the dreaded seizures struck. Hundreds per day. Hope lost all her previously gained skills, and at 9 months old still can't hold her head up. A couple of months ago, it was discovered that she has a mitochondrial disorder. Basically every cell in her body is wrong. We really don't know what the future hold, but are greatful for everyday. Despite all this, she's a very noisy happy smily lil lady that I wouldn't swap for the world. It's so nice when the vm turns out to be nothing at all, but I guess like jess said, sometimes it can go the other way. Anyway, just popping back to check in on some old friends xxx

turtlemom - 4 days ago.
Vicki, Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. Please send love from Parker and I to you, Jess & Gagey!

jess2008 - 4 days ago.
A quick update on little Gage....he is not doing well since his eye surgery. He is desatting badly and actually got so bad yesterday he turned blue. Pulmonary was called immediately and he was put back on the ventilator until they could see him this morning. Waiting for word from Jessica on what is going on....Vicki (Nana)

turtlemom - 5 days ago.
I am happy for you and your little one, Veetim! While the DHA supplement can't hurt, it isn't the golden ticket. Luckily about 99% of the vents in mild cases of VM wind up correcting themselves by the third trimester (DHA or not). So, if you have vent mesaurements between 10 and 13mm, you shouldn't really fret. More than likely, your baby will be just fine.

Veetim - 5 days ago.
hello everyone,i hope all of you are doing well.Today was my appointment with my Doctor,at 28wks,for another scanning for the check up of my son's ventricles.It was good news and we were over the moon.For those who are new they dont know my story pls check on my profile.Today my son's right ventricle is measuring 8.1mm,of which my Doctor said is back to normal and the baby is doing very well.Last four weeks it was measuring at 9.5mm from 11-12,and i should give credit to DHA suppliment.So am hoping for everyone to get the positive results like mine.Prayers do wonders.Take care and i will keep you in my prayers.

irishmama - 6 days ago.
Hi there, I came to this site at 32 weeks pregnant, when one of my twin boys was diagnosed antenatally with enlarged ventricles ( measurements then varied from just over 10 to 12mm). It was the one site where I found some reassurance and I promised myself that if our story turned out happily, I would tell it here. At the time, we were told that the enlarged ventricles could be a possible indication of Down Syndrome or that our son could have hydrocephaly, learning disabilities or worse, but the doctors were very vague when it came to any specifics. We were shocked, sad and desperately worried as we struggled to come to terms with this. It made the last five weeks of my pregnancy a very dark place for both my husband and I. At birth my son, who appeared totally normal, had an ultrasound followed by an MRI. Now (ten weeks after his birth), we've been told that although his ventricles are 'slightly filled', they are not enlarged, that his brain formation is completely normal and that the doctors expect him to be absolutely fine. He has to come back for a developmental check-up at six months and again at one year, but they don't expect any problems. Certainly, he seems normal in every way- he's very alert and aware and we're getting plenty of gorgeous little grins and smiles from him! I hope our story might give other parents some reassurance during the very dark days and weeks that follow a diagnosis of ventriculomegaly (even typing the word here brings back the fear, despair and sadness that we felt).

triciah - 7 days ago.
i finally added ryan's 1 yr photo's if you would like to see.they turned out pretty great! i will update soon, he is 13 1/2 mo now.also, while i'm on here this morning say a little prayer for gage(jess2008), he is having surgery on his eyes today, lots of love coming your way gage!

two-on-board - 9 days ago.
MarieG - it is my understanding that the size of ventricles postnatally is more about brain compression than size. Hope this is helpful! X

MarieG - 12 days ago.
Well I am having a bit of a bad day today and feeling very upset, dizzy and a bit confused. I took my son for his 4-month check up and at this appointment he was scheduled to have a follow up ultrasound on his ventricles. At the checkup my Doctor said that my son looks fine, motor and other skills are all good and he's developing nicely. At the ultrasound, the Doc who scanned him said that his ventricles had increased a bit (by 2mm) and that he wanted to see him again in 3 months to repeat the ultrasound. He seemed a bit negative but then when I went back to see my Doctor he said not to worry about it and that his ventricles will get bigger as his head grows and that he seems fine. I am confused about whether or not I should be stressing about this!

triciah - 13 days ago.
mariafelisa,thank you for your story.i am so happy that you made it to a dr. that was caring and gave a correct diagnosis.it is stories like this that should make all of us take a second opinion or a second to just think about what we are being told, and try not to get ourselves so upset with what has been put on our plate to handle until we have a grasp on all the possibilities... miracles do happen, drs can be wrong(they are only human), and faith in GOD does matter. what a great story, and i am so glad you joined in to share that with us all.congratulations to you and i know with all that has happened to you that it will allow you to be extremely and forever grateful to GOD and your dr for giving you the most precious gift of all... those two little baby boys...blessings to you!

mariafelisa - 14 days ago.
Hello to everyone, I first want to say that I am thankful to this forum and our faith. I hope this that someone else reads this and finds encouragement and hope. I was pregnant with twin boys and would have regular checkups with he OB and with our perinatal doctor. During my 16 week ultrasound I was told that one of the boys had ventriculomegaly and agenesis of the corpus collasum. I panicked and could not believe this was happening to us. The other baby was completely healthy he said. For weeks the doctor kept asking us if we were going to keep the babies and it was the hardest moment in my life. In my desperate search for answers I found very little information on the ACC diagnosis. This baby was also smaller and I went to see a specialist for a possible procedure to only stay with the healthy twin and this was difficult because they were in the same placenta. I know this sounds horrible , but I was looking at all of the options. I was seeing by this 'twin surgeon specialist' that has invented a procedure where they can operate twins in the womb when there is twin to twin transfusion. I was with him all day and after a long, four hour ultra sound he ruled out that the baby was missing his corpus collasum. The way this doctor explained the brain to us had been so different from the other perinatalist we had visited, he is a true master in his profession. As the weeks passed, the ventricules were in normal size range. I delivered Christian and Matthew at 35 weeks and four days, Matthew was 4lbs and 6 oz and after a scan (shortly after being born)I was reasured once again that he was completely normal. To think that I was put through so much including multiple amnios, MRI scans, and test troughout my pregnancy. They are both completely normal and healthy babies and it scares me to think if I would have gone with the doctors first diagnosis he might not be here. Dr. Quintero, at Jackson Memorial Hospital, is an angel and a true specialist. I thank him and for all of you for your support in sharing of your stories.

lindsaymorrow - 15 days ago.
i wud love to talk to people thats goin throuh same thing as me my little girl has ventriculomegaly she had 25mm extra on her brain, she is one next month she has had a operation, we were told she wud not be normal and she is hittin mile stones she shud be! thinking of u all x

partyof5soon - 19 days ago.
Hey everyone...well little Kaden didn want to wait till his enduction day today. He decided he wanted to arrive on his own terms so Monday night my water broke while turning over in bed & just 6 1/2 hrs later tuesday morning at 7:01am he was born weighing in at 7lbs 10 oz & 20 in long. His apgar score was 9.9 which is awesome & he passed the hearing test. They did a CAT scan on him before we could bring him home & last night our neurologist came into my hospital room with the best news...he said Kadens brain & vent look perfectly normal, he is a healthy baby! He said Kaden does NOT have Colpocephaly nor does he even have VM...said if vent was infact enlarged the last 10 weeks of pregnancy it isnt now nor is there any brain volume loss like we were told at 30 weeks he had. The doc thinks they combined the left vent with the one next to it to measure his left vent unknowingly. Said his left vent did measure slightly larger than his right but nothing out of the normal range & called it something that I cant remember & used the example of everyone if measured would have a leg slightly longer than the other or an arm slightly longer than the other & he said he would bet that if he did a scan on myself or my honey that it would show one of us with the same thing...said he wanted to see Kaden again in 6-8 months for protocol but as far as his tests & his brain show we have a perfectly healthy little baby boy. I just cried & cried when he told us this cos the stress of the last 10 weeks have been unbearable & we were so worried...I just stare at him these last few days in wonder & think that we were recommended 3 times by 2 different docs to terminate him due to his diagnosis being so poor...we came so close to teminating & the only reason we didnt was because the amnio test came back clear...I am so grateful we didnt listen to the docs & didnt terminate him...it would have been the biggest mistake of our lives & I feel so unbelievably blessed to have him here with us finally even tho I am not getting much sleep these last couple of days..he truely is our little miracle baby....I just wanted to share with you all our story & our great news. thank you all for being there for us these last few weeks of stress & I hope our story gives other some hope as well...technology these days are a double edge storm & as far as we are advanced in technology the docs arent always right...they are only human & can make mistakes as they did in our case.

Veetim - 19 days ago.
Hello everyone,i hope you are keeping up your faith and strength.Me am not bad,now am 26 wks+1 day.I am still managing as some days i get so emotional and some days am full of energy. Liz am so sorry for the sad news,but my dear keep your faith up and be strong for your gal,as i believe soon she will get better,think in positive way as sometimes the prognosis can be very destroying as you will be hearing so many scary stuff which will rip your heart but some where around the corner miracle will take its way and she will recover.will put u in my prayers. Mtldad, what a great news!!!! am very happy for you guys and your little gal,i do understand that its hard to believe that DHA can do wonders coz this people do not want to carry out a proper research on it. For me am still taking them as i believe its magic,now i have two weeks to go for my next appointment,and at the moment am getting emotional as the days get closer.I wish everyone all the best and please we need to keep on doing research.Wish u luck!!!!

montrealmama - 19 days ago.
Liz (babygirlonthway): I'm so sorry to hear the update on Gabriela. I hope you are finding strength and support. I was hoping you would have time to answer some questions for me? Was this polymicrogyria identified before she was born? Did you ever have the MRI? Are her feet really clubbed or her hands still clenched? Also, was she an active baby in utero...did you feel her moving alot? Because if she was a quiet baby, then maybe that explains the hypotonia?!? Do the doctors know if this is a chromosomal defect, because I know you were discouraged from having an amnio? Could the liver dysfunction and metabolic disorder have been diagnosed before she was born? I'm sorry to bombard you with all these questions, but I'm waiting for MRI results and am frantic with worry. I'm 31 weeks and looking for answers from moms like you. Thank you.

mtldad - 20 days ago.
Hi All - My wife just had the 34 week U/S and some improvement on the vent size. And I have to thank the several people who posted information about DHA and omega-3. At 30 weeks, the girl (we're having twins) vents measured 10mm. At 32 weeks they went up to 12.5mm. My wife started taking omega-3 (3x 1000mg/day) with high DHA percentage right after that 32-week U/S. Two weeks later on the 34-week U/S (today) the vents measured 10.2mm (range of measures from 9.1mm to 10.4mm). We're still hoping it will go down further and I cannot say for sure it's because of the DHA supplements. However I have to believe based on all of the research that I found (thanks AGAIN to people on this forum) that the omega-3/DHA deserves at least part of the credit for the improvement. Now let's hope the twins stay in there as long as possible and absorb more of the DHA for the next few weeks and that we will see further improvements. Thanks again and best wishes to all. Babygirlontheway - Best of luck with the ongoing tests and progress!

babygirlontheway - 21 days ago.
hi all! our little family is now living in Texas Children's Hospital NICU. we've been encountering many ups and downs. Gabriela was born very hypotonic (which we've seen some improvement)... unfortunately she also is on phenobarbital, because she's had some seizures. she still had ventriculomegaly, with Colpocephaly presentation... her CC is there, but thin. and possibile polymicrogyria (different radiologists say different things). her liver enzymes have come back elevated, so she has liver dysfunction. had an ultrasound done this morning, waiting on results. no answers for us still, but the more I look up stuff on liver dysfunction and metabolic disorders that might have caused this, the more scared I get. the prognosis for these disorders are horrible. hope all is well with you all... --liz

kevinkevin - 23 days ago.
Hi all, my baby was born on 20 Oct. His vent measured over 10mm at his 38 wks but a further U/S Scan on the third day after his birth has indicated that his vents are normal and not dilated. He is lovely and everything are normal and my wife and I are very glad about that. Keep praying and believe in God and your baby. Support you all.

partyof5soon - 23 days ago.
Well we are set to enduce on this coming Thursday Nov 5th...I am excited to finally have Kaden here with us & see if he is indeed ok but I am also getting more & more nervous for him to be here & what all that may entail if he isnt ok...even tho at our last U/S at 35 weeks showed his Vent stable at 10.3MM I still worry about any damage that may have happened while they were larger plus our little guy also has the diagnosis of Colpocephaly...I have 2 kids already & I do believe myself to be a good mom, I am just hoping I will be a good mom to Kaden as well if he does have any mental disabilities...I dont mean to sound harsh by any means, its just a worry of mine of being patient enough for him thru the years...Guess it is my insecurities of the unknown creeping up on me the closer it gets to him being here...praying he is going to be ok & healthy

Veetim - 26 days ago.
Hello mums and daddies,i hope everyone is fine.Mmmhhh!!! there are some good news from other parents recently,i have been checking the updates everyday whenever i have time and it is promising and cheering me also give me strength on this journey.Anyway am doing well,but recently i noticed my ankles are bit swollen and when i checked for info. i found out that it is something common in pregnancy unless am getting pain. I read a comment one lady left about swollen ankles that u can eat banana,so today i had a banana and it wasn't bad.Thank you so much Professormom for your story as i have been following your story and got some tips about DHA suppliments,and now i cant wait to read your update about your baby's scanning.TerryJ75 its fantastic news you have and i ithink this site is the best place ever for all of us with what we are going through.I wish you luck,i can't wait for my 28wks scanning on the 19th Nov,i will keep in touch!!!! tchao

TerryJ75 - 28 days ago.
Great news after months of worry our little girls vents have gone back to normal. They were 12.5 from june till now and now they are lv 7-8 and right 8-9 which is normal. We are happy and just wanted to let others know that this is possible and things can go back to normal. We are at 37 weeks tom so we are close to delivery and our dr's can give us no explanation for her vents being enlarged from 17 weeks till 36 weeks and then just going back to normal. SO for others on this board keep your head up and hold on to your hopes and dreams and just know these babies are special no matter what the outcome is whether they are completely normal or with some special needs they ares till loved wanted and needed in this world to amke people better people just becuase they have the privledge to have a special child like ours in their lives. Hugs and Best Wishes To All!!!!

Hayley Jaffrey - 28 days ago.
Guys, I wanted to share my story. My daughter is now 3 years old and was diagnosed with mild ventriculomegaly during my prenatal 20wk ultrasound. At the time, we were like rabbits in headlights. There was hardly any information available to us and none of the healthcare professionals could offer any definitive information or advice. We were offered a termination of pregnancy but flatly refused. When she was born, her Apgar score was slightly low but considered to be within normal ranges. A post natal ultrasound showed no evidence of the ventriculomegaly, but it was a very junior doc who did it. I knew something wasn't right with her - she was floppy, had no head control, choked on her feeds regularly and vomited easily. At 6 months I convinced our GP to refer us to a neurologist. Maia was diagnosed with hypotonia (low muscle tone) with developmental delays. Fast forward 2 years and she has progressed brilliantly. She was always late with her physical milestones, but with physio and speech & language therapy has developed into a bright, smart and happy kid. We were referred to a Geneticist, who confirmed that Maia does have a genetic condition, but doesn't know which one - it could be Maia Jaffrey Syndrome, because there is no other child on their database that displays the same genetic markers. Her markers are very similar to Downs Syndrome, but she doesn't have the typical facial features and her genetics results rule that out. I just wanted to tell you that although Maia is unique, she is wonderful and no-one can tell that she has any issues. I always knew that the Termination was not an option and have been blessed that she has developed into a sprightly, funny and very feisty little girl. I wish you all strength and courage as you go through your journeys, but please have faith and remember to keep your humour - its a life saver. There is a brilliant Yahoo healthgroup called Hypotonia Hope if any of your precious angels are born with low muscle tone - that forum was a life saver for me. Love always, Hayley Aberdeen Scotland. Mum to Harris & Maia xx

mtldad - 29 days ago.
Bento - happy to hear your good news! You must be very relieved. It gives hope and I wish the same outcome for everyone here. Professormom & Veetim - Thanks for the additional info on DHA and Omega-3. I just read some of the articles and certainly reinforces that it's a good idea. By the way, I asked the Dr about cod liver oil and DHA at the 32 week U/S. She mentioned that this was the same as Omega-3 and she specified to get 'pharmaceutical grade Omega-3' rather than cod liver oil because it removes any mercury found in fish oils. Can anyone confirm if 'DHA' and 'Omega-3' are the same thing? Or is there a difference?