Cerebellocele and associated central nervous system anomalies in the Meckel syndrome.

Abstract

Three cases with the Meckel syndrome were autopsied and found to have: arhinencephaly , polymicrogyria , aqueductal stenosis, heterotopia of glial tissue, hypoplasia or agenesis of the cerebellar vermis, cranium bifidum associated with large occipital ventriculocele and others. The anomalies at the level of posterior fossa in this condition are classified as those belonging to the Chiari type III group of anomalies. This unusual set of anomalies which forms pathogenetic link between the Dandy-Walker and Chiari-Arnold group of anomalies in the posterior fossa seems to be very frequent in the Meckel syndrome. The therapeutic emphasis is on genetic counseling in view of the recessive inheritance of the syndrome.