Efficacy of prolonged valganciclovir therapy for congenital cytomegalovirus infection

We report prolonged valganciclovir (VGCV) treatment of a symptomatic cytomegalovirus infection case. Automated auditory brainstem evoked response performed at 5 days of age revealed severe hearing impairment. Cranial magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at 11 days of age showed abnormal findings. At 5 weeks of age, VGCV was started. The viral load in blood cells, plasma, and urine decreased during the 6-week treatment. Because of improvement of hearing level and no adverse effects, VGCV was restarted for an additional 6 weeks. Neither the patient's hearing impairment nor results of cranial MR imaging have become worse in 6 months. It is crucial to gather information from as many cases as possible treated with VGCV to establish a standard protocol for VGCV treatment.