Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) is characterized by an intracranial vascular anomaly, leptomeningeal angiomatosis, most often involving the occipital and posterior parietal lobes. The most common symptoms and signs are facial cutaneous vascular malformations (port-wine stains), seizures, and glaucoma. Stasis results in ischemia underlying the leptomeningeal angiomatosis, leading to calcification and laminar cortical necrosis. The clinical course is highly variable and some children experience intractable seizures, mental retardation, and recurrent stroke-like episodes (review by Thomas-Sohl et al., 2004).

Schinzel-Giedion syndrome is a highly recognizable syndrome characterized by severe mental retardation, distinctive facial features, and multiple congenital malformations including skeletal abnormalities, genitourinary and renal malformations, and cardiac defects, as well as a higher-than-normal prevalence of tumors, notably neuroepithelial neoplasia (summary by Hoischen et al., 2010).

Bohring-Opitz syndrome (BOS) is characterized by distinctive facial features and posture, growth failure, variable but usually severe intellectual disability, and variable anomalies. The facial features may include microcephaly or trigonocephaly / prominent (but not fused) metopic ridge, hypotonic facies with full cheeks, synophrys, glabellar and eyelid nevus flammeus (simplex), prominent globes, widely set eyes, palate anomalies, and micrognathia. The BOS posture, which is most striking in early childhood and often becomes less apparent with age, is characterized by flexion at the elbows with ulnar deviation and flexion of the wrists and metacarpophalangeal joints. Feeding difficulties in early childhood, including cyclic vomiting, have a significant impact on overall health; feeding tends to improve with age. Seizures are common and typically responsive to standard epileptic medications. Minor cardiac anomalies and transient bradycardia and apnea may be present. Affected individuals may experience recurrent infections, which also tend to improve with age. Isolated case reports suggest that individuals with BOS are at greater risk for Wilms tumor than the general population, but large-scale epidemiologic studies have not been conducted.

PHACE is an acronym for a neurocutaneous syndrome encompassing the following features: posterior fossa brain malformations, hemangiomas of the face (large or complex), arterial anomalies, cardiac anomalies, and eye abnormalities. The association is referred to as PHACES when ventral developmental defects, such as sternal clefting or supraumbilical raphe, are present (summary by Bracken et al., 2011).

Chromosome 16p13.3deletion syndrome is a chromosome abnormality that can affect many parts of the body. People with this condition are missing a small piece (deletion) of chromosome 16 at a location designated p13.3. Although once thought to be a severe form of Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, it is now emerging as a unique syndrome. Signs and symptoms may include failure to thrive, hypotonia (reduced muscle tone), short stature, microcephaly (unusually small head), characteristic facial features, mild to moderate intellectual disability, organ anomalies (i.e. heart and/or kidney problems), and vulnerability to infections. Chromosome testing of both parents can provide information about whether the deletion was inherited. In most cases, parents do not have any chromosome abnormalities. However, sometimes one parent has a balanced translocation where a piece of a chromosome has broken off and attached to another one with no gain or loss of genetic material. The balanced translocation normally does not cause signs or symptoms, but it increases the risk for having a child with a chromosome abnormality like a deletion. Treatment is based on the signs and symptoms present in each person.To learn more about chromosome abnormalities in general, view our GARD fact sheet on Chromosome Disorders.

Kahrizi syndrome is an autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by mental retardation, cataracts, coloboma, kyphosis, and coarse facial features (summary by Kahrizi et al., 2009). See also congenital disorder of glycosylation type Iq (CDG1Q; 612379), an allelic disorder with overlapping features.

An inherited condition caused by autosomal dominant mutation(s) in the PPP1CB gene, encoding serine/threonine-protein phosphatase PP1-beta catalytic subunit. The condition is characterized by facial features similar to those seen in Noonan syndrome but may also include short stature, cognitive deficits, relative macrocephaly, small posterior fossa resulting in Chiari I malformation, hypernasal voice, cardiac defects, and ectodermal abnormalities, which typically presents as slow-growing, sparse, and/or unruly hair.