Dandy-Walker anomaly in Meckel-Gruber syndrome

We report a fetus affected by Meckel-Gruber syndrome whose phenotype was characterized by macrocephaly, frontal bossing, a saddle nose, marked micrognathia, a distended abdomen, omphalocele, post-axial polydactyly and talipes equinovarus. The main neuropathological finding at autopsy was in a very large cyst located in an abnormally wide posterior cranial fossa consistent with a Dandy-Walker anomaly. Intestinal malrotation, enlarged cystic dysplastic kidneys and hepatic portal fibrosis coexisted. The occurrence of a Dandy-Walker malformation in Meckel-Gruber syndrome confirms a disturbance in rhombencephalon development. Although uncommon, it should be included among the central nervous anomalies representative of the syndrome. Clin Dysmorphol 9:35-38 (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.