Congenital megaurethra in a fetus with Meckel syndrome and in a fetus with female pseudoermanphroditism. The first report of these occurrences.

OBJECTIVE: the purpose of this paper is to report the first case of megaurethra in a fetus with Meckel syndrome and in a fetus with femal pseudoermaphroditism. RESULTS: the former case refers to a fetus of 13 weeks gestation with the three following prominent anomalies, observed by transonic scan and confirmed by autopsy: congenital megaurethra, anal atresia, single umbelical artery. The latter case refers to a fetus of 18 weeks gestation. Autopsy confirmed penile malformation and revealed ovaries in the abdomen. The karyotype was 46,XX with normal molecular karytype. The megaurethra was discovered by sonography at 18 weeks gestation. Autopsy confirmed penile malformation and revealed ovaries in the abdomen. The karyotype was 46,XX with normal molecular karyotype (Array-CGH, 1 Mb of resolution). METHODS: transonic scan, autopsy, karyotype, array-CGH. CONCLUSIONS: the first prenatal cases of two genetic syndromes with megaurethra have been reported, concening respectively a fetus with Meckel syndrome and a fetus with femal pseudoermaphroditism. The latter was confirmed by both autopsy and the normal female 46,XX karyotype.

Microduplications in 22q11.2 and 8q22.1 associated with mild mental retardation and generalized overgrowth.

The 22q11.2 microduplication is a genomic disorder, characterized from a variable phenotype ranging from different defects to normality. The most common microduplication of 22q11.2 is 3 Mb in size, but there are also cases reported with atypical duplications between 0.8 Mb and 6Mb. Here, we describe a case of a child with macrocephaly, overgrowth with advanced bone age, attention deficits, evidence of mild mental retardation and dysmorphic features. An array-CGH analysis detected a 252 Kb duplication at the 22q11.2 region inherited from mother and 142 Kb duplication at 8q22.1 region inherited from father. Both parents show mild dysmorphic features. The duplicated genes in chromosomes 22q and 8q are TOP3B and PGCP, respectively. We describe for the first time a patient carrying the smaller atypical 22q11.2 duplication who also presents with mild mental retardation and generalized overgrowth. This patient has an additional duplication in 8q22.1 which may act as a genomic modifier of its clinical phenotype.

Severe myopia with unusual retinal anomalies and Dandy-Walker sequence in two sibs. A distinct new neuro-ocular disorder.

We have observed a male and a female, sibs of non-consanguineous parents, affected by severe myopia with characteristic retinal defects and Dandy-Walker variant. The peculiarity of the retinopathy consists of pathological myopia with anomalous vitreal fenestrated membranes in the retinal periphery. We suppose that these associations may configure a new genetic syndrome.