Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
This review deals with CNS troubles and anomalies (excluding mental defects and oligophrenia, as well as primary muscular degenerations), that account for approximately 25 percent of all cases of genetic counseling in our material.
From a genetic-counseling perspective, CNS affections may be easily classed as follows: (1) congenital malformations; (2) monofactorial Mendelian affections; (3) diseases with a possibly hereditary disposition (e.g., arthrogryposis); (4) infant cerebral palsies; and (5) epilepsies.
In our own material, CNS congenital malformations account for approximately 60 percent of all cases of neurologic genetic counseling, whereas Mendelian affections account for only 20 percent and epilepsies for 15 percent. They mainly include cases of hydrocephaly, anencephaly, spina bifida, and microcephaly, for which the recurrence risk is mostly empirical. Emphasis is laid on the present possibilities of prenatal detection of some of these malformations.