Van Maldergem syndrome: further characterisation and evidence for neuronal migration abnormalities and autosomal recessive inheritance

We present six patients from five unrelated families with a condition originally described by Van Maldergem et al and provide follow-up studies of the original patient. The phenotype comprises a distinctive facial appearance that includes blepharophimosis, maxillary hypoplasia, telecanthus, microtia and atresia of the external auditory meatus, intellectual disability, digital contractures and skeletal anomalies together with subependymal and subcortical neuronal heterotopia. Affected patients typically have neonatal hypotonia, chronic feeding difficulties and respiratory problems. In our cohort, we have observed one instance of sibling recurrence and parental consanguinity in three of the families, indicating that autosomal recessive inheritance is likely. European Journal of Human Genetics (2012) 20, 1024-1031; doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2012.57; published online 4 April 2012