facial palsy

Facial Palsy, Congenital, with Ptosis and Velopharyngeal Dysfunction

Clinical Characteristics
Ocular Features: 

The singular ocular feature found in this condition is congenital bilateral non-progressive ptosis which may improve to some extent with age.  Patients usually compensate with a chin up posture.  A mild paresis of upgaze and some weakness of the orbicularis oculi muscles has been described in the index case.  Ocular motility is otherwise normal and Bell's phenomenon is usually present. 

Systemic Features: 

Patients have a wide uvula, absent or decreased gag reflexes, and rhinophonia aperta.  Symptoms are nonprogressive but may improve with age or therapy.  No other skeletal, neurologic, or psychomotor anomalies have been reported.

Genetics

A single 5 generation family has been reported.  The transmission pattern is consistent with autosomal dominant inheritance.  Heterozygous missense mutations in the TUBB6 gene (18p11.21) are responsible for this condition.

Pedigree: 
Autosomal dominant
Treatment
Treatment Options: 

Some patients benefit from nasopharyngeal surgery to improve swallowing and speech.  Ptosis surgery can also be helpful.

References
Article Title: 

A TUBB6 mutation is associated with autosomal dominant non-progressive congenital facial palsy, bilateral ptosis and velopharyngeal dysfunction

Fazeli W, Herkenrath P, Stiller B, Neugebauer A, Fricke J, Lang-Roth R, Nurnberg G, Thoenes M, Becker J, Altmuller J, Volk AE, Kubisch C, Heller R. A TUBB6 mutation is associated with autosomal dominant non-progressive congenital facial palsy, bilateral ptosis and velopharyngeal dysfunction. Hum Mol Genet. 2017 Oct 15;26(20):4055-4066.

PubMed ID: 
29016863

Carey-Fineman-Ziter Syndrome

Clinical Characteristics
Ocular Features: 

Abnormal eye movements with prominent external ophthalmoplegia are hallmarks of this disease.  An oculomotor nerve palsy with limited abduction and some degree of facial palsy are usually present.  The Moebius sequence is present in many patients.  Epicanthal folds, downslanting lid fissures, and ptosis are frequently seen.

Systemic Features: 

Clinical signs are highly variable.  Unusual facies with features of the Pierre Robin complex are characteristic.  Micrognathia and retrognathia are often present with glossoptosis.  Hypotonia and failure to thrive are commonly seen.  Dysphagia and even absent swallowing likely contribute to this.  Respiratory insufficiency can be present from birth, often with laryngostenosis, and some patients develop pulmonary hypertension and restrictive lung disease as adults.  Progressive scoliosis may contribute to this.  Many patients have club feet with joint contractures.  Skull formation consisting of microcephaly, or macrocephaly, or plagiocephaly is commonly seen.  Cardiac septal defects are common.

Intellectual disability is present in some but not all individuals.  Neuronal heterotopias, enlarged ventricles, reduced white matter, a small brainstem, microcalcifications, and enlarged ventricles have been observed.

Genetics

Homozygous or compound heterozygosity of the MYMK gene (9q34) is responsible for this condition.  

Pedigree: 
Autosomal recessive
Treatment
Treatment Options: 

No treatment for the general disorder has been reported.

References
Article Title: 

A defect in myoblast fusion underlies Carey-Fineman-Ziter syndrome

Di Gioia SA, Connors S, Matsunami N, Cannavino J, Rose MF, Gilette NM, Artoni P, de Macena Sobreira NL, Chan WM, Webb BD, Robson CD, Cheng L, Van Ryzin C, Ramirez-Martinez A, Mohassel P, Leppert M, Scholand MB, Grunseich C, Ferreira CR, Hartman T, Hayes IM, Morgan T, Markie DM, Fagiolini M, Swift A, Chines PS, Speck-Martins CE, Collins FS, Jabs EW, Bonnemann CG, Olson EN; Moebius Syndrome Research Consortium, Carey JC, Robertson SP, Manoli I, Engle EC. A defect in myoblast fusion underlies Carey-Fineman-Ziter syndrome. Nat Commun. 2017 Jul 6;8:16077. doi: 10.1038/ncomms16077.

PubMed ID: 
28681861

Möbius sequence, Robin complex, and hypotonia: severe expression of brainstem disruption spectrum versus Carey-Fineman-Ziter syndrome

Verloes A, Bitoun P, Heuskin A, Amrom D, van de Broeck H, Nikkel SM, Chudley AE, Prasad AN, Rusu C, Covic M, Toutain A, Moraine C, Parisi MA, Patton M, Martin JJ, Van Thienen MN. Mobius sequence, Robin complex, and hypotonia: severe expression of brainstem disruption spectrum versus Carey-Fineman-Ziter syndrome. Am J Med Genet A. 2004 Jun 15;127A(3):277-87.

PubMed ID: 
15150779

CHARGE Syndrome

Clinical Characteristics
Ocular Features: 

Both ocular and systemic abnormalities are highly variable, even within families.  Among the most common ocular features are unilateral or bilateral ocular colobomas (80%).  These involve the iris most frequently but they may extend into the posterior chamber and rarely involve the optic nerve.  A significant number of patients with uveal colobomas have an associated microphthalmia.  The lid fissures often slant downward.  A few patients have congenital cataracts, optic nerve hypoplasia, persistent hyperplastic vitreous, and strabismus.

Systemic Features: 

A wide variety of systemic anomalies have been reported.  Congenital heart defects (primarily septal) and CNS malformations are among the most common features, reported in 85% and 55% respectively.  Tetralogy of Fallot is considered by some to be the most common heart malformation.  Growth and mental retardation are found in nearly 100%.  The pinnae are often set low and hearing loss is common.  Ear anomalies, both internal and external, have been described in 91%, and some degree of conduction and/or sensorineural deafness is present in 62%.  Choanal atresia is found in at least 57% of patients.  This along with cleft palate and sometimes esophageal atresia or reflux often contributes to feeding difficulties which are common in all age groups.  Cranial nerve deficits are seen in 92% of patients and more than one nerve is involved in nearly 3 of 4 patients.  The most common cranial nerve defects involve numbers IX, X, VIII, and V.  Facial palsies are an especially important feature. Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and underdevelopment of the external genitalia are often seen, especially in males.  One-third of patients have limb anomalies and many have short digits.  The facies is considered by some as characteristic with a square configuration, broad forehead, flat midface, and a broad nasal bridge.

Infant and childhood morbidity is high with feeding difficulties a major cause of death.

Genetics

Many cases occur sporadically but family patterns consistent with autosomal dominant inheritance are common as well.  Advanced paternal age may be a factor in de novo cases.  Sequence variants of multiple types have been reported in the CHD7 gene (8q12.1-q12.2) in more than 90% of familial patients.  The gene product is a DNA –binding protein that impacts transcription regulation via chromatin remodeling.

Kallmann syndrome (hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and anosmia) has been considered to be allelic to CHARGE syndrome but may be the same disorder since mutations in CHD7 are responsible and many patients have other features characteristic of the syndrome described here.

Several patients with classical features of the CHARGE syndrome and de novo mutations in the SEMA3E gene (7q21.11) have also been described.

Pedigree: 
Autosomal dominant
Treatment
Treatment Options: 

Treatment is lesion dependent but focused on airway, feeding, and cardiac defects at least initially.  Regular ophthalmologic and audiologic evaluations are recommended beginning in infancy.  Evidence for hypogonadism should be evaluated if puberty is delayed.  Nutrition must be monitored especially in those with serious feeding problems.  Hearing devices, with speech, occupational, and education therapy may be required.

References
Article Title: 

Möebius Syndrome

Clinical Characteristics
Ocular Features: 

This is an ill-defined syndrome with the primary features of facial weakness and limited ocular abduction, usually bilateral and nonprogresssive. Those who first described this entity in the 19th century, von Graefe and M√∂ebius, accepted only cases with facial diplegia and bilateral 6th nerve palsy.  Since then, however, a large number of associated nerve palsies and systemic malformations have been reported. More than a third of patients have features of Duane’s syndrome.  Beyond the oculomotor dysfunction, no ocular abnormalities are consistently associated.

Systemic Features: 

A large number of neurological and skeletal anomalies have been reported in association with what is called M√∂ebius syndrome.  Orofacial dysmorphism, limb malformations and other cranial nerve palsies are the most common.  The lack of specific diagnostic criteria for this ‘syndrome’ may explain why many of these associations have been reported, and it is beyond the scope of this database to enumerate or document the validity of including coexistent malformations as part of the M√∂ebius sequence.  A significant number of patients have more general motor and coordination disabilities.  It is not unusual for young patients to have respiratory difficulties and to suffer an early demise.  Necropsy findings often reveal diffuse brainstem pathology.

Genetics

This is either a clinically heterogeneous disorder or a category with multiple disorders.  Familial occurrence is uncommon and recurrence risk is generally higher among families with simple 6th and 7th nerve palsies suggesting that cases in which other major anomalies occur are more likely to be the result of environmentally-induced maldevelopment.  Both autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive inheritance patterns have been reported in familial cases.

Based on the pattern of chromosomal aberrations found in a multigenerational family, it has been proposed that a locus for Moebius syndrome resides somewhere in 13q12.2-q13.

Pedigree: 
Autosomal dominant
Autosomal recessive
Treatment
Treatment Options: 

No treatment is available.

References
Article Title: 
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