Clinical features in adult patient with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome

Abstract

The Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome (WHS) encompasses deletions at the distal part of the short arm of one chromosome 4 (4p16 region). Clinical signs frequently include a typical facial appearance, mental retardation, intrauterine and postnatal growth retardation, hypotonia with decreased muscle bulk and seizures besides congenital heart malformations, midline defects, urinary tract malformations and brain, hearing and ophthalmologic malformations. Pathogenesis of WHS is multigenic and many factors are involved in prediction of prognosis such as extent of deletion, the occurrence of severe chromosome anomalies, the severe of seizures, the existence of serious internal, mainly cardiac, abnormalities and the degree of mental retardation. The phenotype of adult with WHS is in general similar to that of childhood being facial dysmorphism, growth retardation and mental retardation the rule in both adults and children. Avoid long-term complications and provide rehabilitation programs and genetic counseling may be essential in these patients.