Congenital Zika Syndrome: The Main Cause of Death and Correspondence Between Brain CT and Postmortem Histological Section Findings From the Same Individuals

In the present case series, the cause of death of infants diagnosed with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) was lung disease (pneumonia and sepsis with massive pulmonary aspiration), probably secondary to dysphagia and reflux. The main findings in infants with a confirmed diagnosis of CZS who died were as follows: (1) calcification and hypoplasia of the lentiform nuclei, hypoplasia of the caudate nuclei, and calcification at the cortical-subcortical junction was noted in all cases (100%) and calcification of the caudate nuclei was noted in 66.7% of cases; (2) calcification in the brainstem and along the lateral wall of the lateral ventricles was noted in only the case with arthrogryposis (33.3%); and (3) lesions in the posterior fossa (hypoplasia of the brainstem and cerebellum) were noted in two cases (66.7%), including the case with arthrogryposis. The findings concerning calcifications and brain malformations obtained from non-contrast computed tomography (CT) demonstrated good agreement with findings obtained from the postmortem pathological analysis; however, CT failed to detect discontinuity of the pia mater with heterotopia, invasion of the cerebral tissue into the subarachnoid space, and discontinuity of the ependyma in the lateral ventricles with gliosis; this last feature was only imaged in the most severe case of extreme microcephaly with a simplified gyral pattern. Only histopathology showed grouped calcifications associated with scattered calcifications suggestive of the neuron morphology.