[Alcardi's syndrome in a monozygotic twin girl]

ABSTRACT

Aicardi's syndrome is a rare genetic disorder characterized by heterogeneity of clinical findings and prognosis. The characteristic features include infantile spasms, agenesis of the corpus callosum and chorioretinal lacunae. This syndrome is seem almost exclusively in female and it's often sporadic. The authors report a case of a premature female twins with typical Aicardi syndrome and her sister sibling was unaffected. At 4 months of age, the patient developed flexion in spasms and constipation. At that time she had microcephaly, abdominal ballonnement and generalized hypotonia. The electro- encephalography showed a characteristic hypsarrhythmia. The cranial ultrasonography and computed tomographic scan cerebral demonstrated agenesis of the corpus callous. Chest radiograph revealed multiple dorsal hemi vertebrae and scoliosis. The ophthalmologic examination showed chorioretinal lacunae. The karyotype was 46, XX. The patient also had peripheric hypothyroidism. The outcome under Vigabatrin and L-Thyroxin was characterized by a psychomotor retardation, a severe epilepsy, gastroesophageal reflux and recurrent pneumonia which caused the death at 2 years of age