The Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. II. Pathologic anatomy.

Most cases of Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome occurring among children who die during the perinatal period are not diagnosed by morphologists. However, analysis of the morphological data on the Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome revels that association of typical external features and abnormalities ofthe brain (shortening of the H2 area of Ammon's horn, dystonic dysplastic gyrae in the cerebellum), eyes (colobomata, microphthalmos, retinal dysplasia) and kidneys (bilateral or unilateral agenesis, cystic dysplasia or polycystosis) with diaphragmatic hernia allows the establishment of a diagnosis of the syndrome without cytogenetic investigation.

Brief clinical observations: the Neu-Laxova syndrome--a distinct entity.

We report a stillborn girl with a complex syndrome of microcephaly, lissencephaly, severe subcutaneous edema, atrophic muscles, camptodactyly, syndactyly of toes and fingers, hypoplastic genitalia, and numerous structural changes of the brain and eyes. Similar cases have been reported by Neu et al [1], Laxova et al [2] and Povysilova et al [3]. The above-mentioned syndrome complex is a distinct genetic syndrome, for which we propose the eponym "the Neu-Laxova syndrome." Affected patients resemble each other strikingly and there is usually no doubt about the diagnosis. The Neu-Laxova syndrome is apparently transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait.