Genetic disorders and inborn errors of metabolism Flashcards
Malformation
Occurs when an intrinsically abnormal process forms abnormal tissue (e.g. bladder extrophy results from the failure of the infraumbilical mesenchyme to migrate and form the lower abdominal wall)
Deformation
Occurs when mechanical forces exerted on normal tissue results in abnormal tissue (e.g. constraint caused by an abnormal shaped uterus results in an abnormally shaped fetal skull)
Disruption
Occurs when normal tissue becomes abnormal after being subjected to destructive forces (e.g. decreased blood flow to an organ causes tissue ischemia, eventually resulting in atretic organ)
Syndrome
Occurs when a collection of seemingly unrelated abnormal features occur in a familiar pattern (e.g. because many of the clinical features of children with Down syndrome, these children appear to be related to each other)
Elevated alpha fetoprotein
- Fetal neural tube defects
- Mutiple gestation pregnancies
- Underestimated gestational age
- Ventral abdominal wall defects
- Fetal demise
- Fetal conditions that cause edema or skin defects
Low alpha fetoprotein
- Overestimated gestational age
- Trisomies 21 and 18
- Intrauterine growth retardation
Triple marker
AFP, unconjugated estriol, beta hCG
Triple marker that suggests Down syndrome
- Low AFP
- Low unconjugated estriol
- High beta hCG
Triple marker that suggests Trisomy 18
- Low AFP
- Low unconjugated estriol
- Low beta hCG
Marfan syndrome
- Autosomal dominant
- Connective tissue disorder that affects primarily the ocular, cardiovascular, and skeletal systems
- Chromosome 15
- Fibrillin - protein that plays a major role in providing structure for connective tissues
Clinical features of Marfan syndrome
- Skeletal: tall stature with elongated extremities and long fingers, joint laxity, chest wall deformities, scoliosis, kyphosis
- Ocular: upward lens subluxation, retinal detachment
- Cardiovascular: aortic root dilatation, mitral valve prolapse and aortic regurgitation
Complications of Marfan syndrome
- Endocarditis
- Retinal detachment
- Sudden death as a result of aortic dissection
- Hypertension and chest trauma increase dissection risk (overall risk is reduced with beta blockers and avoiding contact sports)
Prader-Willi syndrome
- Genomic imprinting
- Caused by the absence of a region not eh paternally derived chromosome 15
Clinical features of Prader-Willi syndrome
- Craniofacial finidngs: almond shaped eyes and down turned, fishlike mouth
- Growth problems include failure to thrive because of feeding difficulties in first year followed by obesity as a result of hyperphagia later in childhood
- Short stature with small hands and feet
- Neurologic features: hypotonia, mental retardation, learning disabilities, and behavioral problems
- Hypogonadism manifests in small penis, small testes or cryptorchidism
Complications of Prader-Willi syndrome
- Infancy: hypotonia may lead to poor sucking, feeding problems and developmental delay
- Childhood: obesity may lead to obstructive sleep apnea
- Adulthood: obesity may lead to cardiac disease and type 2 DM; psychiatric illness may also be present
Angelman syndrome
- Happy puppet syndrome
- Characteristic jerky, puppetlike gait and happy demeanor with frequent laughter and smiling
- Genetic imprinting
- Deletion of a region on the maternally derived chromosome 15
Clinical features of Angelman syndrome
- Neurologic: jerky arm movements, ataxia, and paroxysms of inappropriate laughter, mental retardation is severe
- Craniofacial findings include a small wide head, large mouth with widely spaced teeth, tongue protrusions and prognathia
- Blonde hair and pale blue deep set eyes
Noonan syndrome
- Male version of Turner syndrome, but females may also be affected
- Usually sporadic, but AD pattern has been reported
- Chromosome 12
Clinical features of Noonan syndrome
- Skeletal findings include short stature and a shield chest
- Craniofacial findings include a short webbed neck and low hairline, hypertelorism, epicentral skin folds, down slanting palpebral fissures and low set ears
- Cardiac defects include right sided heart lesions, most commonly pulmonary valve stenosis
- Mental retardation
DiGeorge syndrome and velocardiofacial syndrome
- 2 distinct syndromes
- Both deletion at chromosome 22q11
CATCH-22:
- Cardiac anomaly
- Abnormal facies
- Thymic hypoplasia
- Cleft palate
- Hypocalcemia
- Gene defect on chromosome 22
DiGeorge syndrome
Defect in the structures derived from the 3rd and 4th pharyngeal pouches
Clinical features of DiGeorge syndrome
- Craniofacial findings include short palpebral fissures, small chin and ear anomalies
- Cardiac findings include aortic arch anomalies, ventricular septal defects and tetralogy of Fallot
- Thymus and parathyroid hypoplasia cause cell-mediated immunodeficiency and severe hypocalcemia
Complications of DiGeorge syndrome
- Infections as a result of cell-mediated immunodeficiency
- Seizures caused by hypocalcemia
Clinical features of velocardiofacial syndrome
- Craniofacial findings include cleft palate, wide prominent nose with a squared nasal root, short chin and fish shaped mouth
- Cardiac findings include ventricular septal defects and a right sided aortic arch
- Neurologic findings include neonatal hypotonia, learning diabilties and preservative behaviors
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
- Production of defective type V collagen resulting in hyper extensible joints, fragile vessels, and loose skin
- Autosomal dominant
Clinical features of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
- Musculoskeletal findings include hyperextensible joints with a tendency toward joint dislocation and scoliosis
- Dermatologic findings include soft, velvety textured, loose, fragile skin
- Minor lacerations result in large wounds that heal poorly with broad, atrophic, tissue paper-thin scars
- Cardiovascular findings include mitral valve prolapse, aortic root dilation, and fragile blood vessels that result in ease of bruising
- GI features include constipation, retail prolapse and hernias
Complications of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
- Aortic dissection
- GI bleeding as a result of vessel fragility
Osteogenesis imperfecta
- Results from mutations that cause production of abnormal type I collagen
- Classified into 4 types based on clinical, radiographic, and genetic criteria
Clinical features of osteogenesis imperfecta
- Blue sclerae
- Skeletal findings such as fragile bones resulting in frequent fractures, genu valgum (knock knees), scoliosis, or kyphosis, joint laxity, and osteoporosis or osteopenia
- Yellow or gray-blue teeth
- Easy bruisability
Complications of osteogenesis imperfecta
- Early conductive hearing loss
- Skeletal deformities as a result of fractures
VACTERL association
- V: vertebral defects
- A: anal atresia
- C: cardiac anomalies (predominantly VSD)
- TE: tracheoesophageal fistula
- R: renal and genital defects
- L: limb defects, including radial hypoplasia, syndactyly, and polydactyly
CHARGE association
- C: colobomas (absence or defect of ocular tissue), usually of the retina; impaired vision is very common
- H: heart defects, most commonly tetralogy of Fallot
- A: atresia of the nasal choanae
- R: retardation of growth and cognition
- G: genital anomalies, including genital hypoplasia
- E: ear anomalies, including cup-shaped ears and hearing loss
Williams syndrome
- Most notable or the unique loquacious personality often described as a cocktail party personality
- Caused by deletion on chromosome 7 that includes the gene for elastin
- Inheritance autosomal dominant
Clinical features of Williams syndrome
- Elfin facies - with short palpebral fissures, flat nasal bridge, and round cheeks
- Mental retardation
- Loquacious personality
- Supravalvular aortic stenosis
- Idiopathic hypercalcemia in infancy
- Connective tissue abnormalities, including a hoarse voice and hernias
Clinical features of Cornelia de Lange syndrome
- Small for gestational age
- FTT
- Craniofacial findings include single eyebrow (synophrys), long, curly eyelashes, microcephaly, thin, turned down upper lip and mirognathia
- Infantile hypertonia
- Mental retardation
- Small hands and feet
- Cardiac defects
- Behavioral findings: autistic features, lack of facial expression and self destructive tendencies
Clinical features of Russell-Silver syndrome
- Small for gestational age
- Craniofacial findings include a small triangular face, prominent forehead and down turned mouth
- Because of the small face, the head appears large, but the head circumference is normal
- Skeletal findings include short stature and limb asymmetry
- Cafe au lait spots on the skin
- Excessive sweating
Clinical features of Pierre Robin syndrome
- Micrognathia
- Cleft lip and palate
- Large, protruding tongue
- Difficulty feeding because of cleft palate
Complications of Pierre Robin syndrome
Recurrent otitis media and upper airway obstruction that often requires tracheostomy
Clinical features of Cri du chat syndrome
- Slow growth
- Microcephaly
- Mental retardation
- Hypertelorism
- Downslanting palpebral fissures
- Catlike cry
Clinical features of trisomy 18
- Neurologic findings include mental retardation and hypertonia with scissoring of the lower extremities
- Delicate, small facial features
- Musculoskeletal findings include clenched hands with overlapping digits, dorsiflexed big toes and rocker bottom feet
Clinical features of trisomy 13
- Associated with midline defects, particularly of the face and forebrain
- Neurologic findings inclue holoprosencephaly, microcephaly, seizures and severe mental retardation
- Ocular findings include microphthalmia, retinal dysplasia, colobomas and a single eye
- Cleft lip and palate
Clinical features of Turner syndrome
- Short stature
- Webbed neck and low posterior hairline
- Shield chest with broadly spaced nipples and scoliosis and kyphosis
- Swelling of the dorsum of hands and feet (congenital lymphedema) may be present at birth
- Ovarian dysgenesis causes delayed puberty
- Cardiac defects usually include left sided heart lesions especially coarctation of the aorta, bicuspid aortic valve and hypoplastic left heart
- Hypothyroidism
Fragile X syndrome
- X linked disorder
- CGG repeats
- Most common inherited cause of mental retardation
Clinical features of fragile X syndrome
- Mild to severe mental retardation
- Craniofacial findings include large ears, macrocephaly, thickened nasal bridge and blue irides
- Large testes develop during puberty
- Behavioral findings include emotional instability, autistic features, and ADHD
Klinefelter syndrome
- Most common cause of male hypogonadism and infertility
- XXY genotype
- Risk increases with advancing maternal age
Clinical features of Klinefelter syndrome
- Tall stature with long extremities
- Hypogonadism, including small penis and testes, delayed puberty owing to lack of testosterone and infertility
- Gynecomastia
- Variable intelligence
- Behavioral findings include antisocial behavior and excessive shyness or aggression
Skeletal dysplasias
Group of inherited diseases characterized by short stature caused by bone growth abnormalities
Rhizomelia
Proximal long bone abnormalities (e.g. short humerus and femur)
Mesomelia
Medial long bone abnormalities (e.g. short ulna and tibia)
Acromelia
Distal bone abnormalities (e.g. small hands and feet)
Spndylodysplasia
Abnormalities of the spine with or without limb abnormalities
Achondroplasia
- Most common skeletal dysplasia
- Rhizomelia
- AD, but most are sporadic
- Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 gene
- Increased incidence with advanced paternal age
Clinical features of achondroplasia
- Megalencephaly (large brain)
- Foramen magnum stenosis
- Frontal bossing
- Mid face hypoplasia
- Low nasal bridge
- Lumbar kyphosis in infancy evolving into lumbar lordosis in later childhood and adulthood
- Rhizomelic limb shortening, bowed legs and joint hyper extensibility
- Trident shaped hands
- Recurrent otitis media with conductive hearing loss
Complications of achondroplasia
- Foramen magnum stenosis may lead to hydrocephalus or cord compression
- Obstructive sleep apnea and respiratory compromise may occur from foramen magnum narrowing and upper airway obstruction
- Orthopedic problems such as severe bowed legs (genu varum) and back pain
Potter syndrome
- Caused by severe oligohydramnios
- This causes lung hypoplasia and fetal compression with limb abnormalities and facial features termed Potter facies
- Severe oligohydramnios may occur as the result of a chronic amniotic fluid leak or intrauterine renal failure caused by bilateral renal agencies, polycystic kidneys or obstructive uropathy
Amniotic band syndrome/ amnion rupture sequence
- Occurs as a result of rupture of the amniotic sac
- Fluid leak leads to intrauterine constraint and small strand from the amnion may wrap around the fetus, causing limb scarring and amputation
Fetal alcohol syndrome
- Alcohol is the most common teratogen
- Small for gestational age
- FTT
- Microcephaly
- Long smooth philtrum with a thin, smooth upper lip
- Mental retardation
- ADHD
- Cardiac defects (VSD is most common)
Fetal phenytoin syndrome
- Mild to moderate mental retardation
- Cardiac defects
- Growth retardation
- Nail and digit abnormalities
- Characteristic facial features
Alcohol associated anomalies
- Microcephaly
- Short palpebral fissures
- Long, smooth philtrum
- Variable mental retardation
Cigarette smoking associated anomalies
- Small for gestational age
- Polycythemia
Cocaine associated anomalies
- Intrauterine growth retardation
- Microcephaly
- Genitourinary tract abnormalities