With the newly published article ‘Growth charts for pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 2A’, we are the first to create disease-specific percentiles for PCH2A.
In their recently published preprint “Brain morphometry and psychomotor development in children with PCH2A”, Pretzel et al. analyzed 78 brain MRIs from a total of 57 children with PCH2A.
Typical gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with PCH2A (feeding difficulties, reflux, vomiting, bloating, constipation, defecation disorders, dysmotility, cramping abdominal pain, restlessness) are recorded in a standardized manner and compared with a control group (children and adolescents with other types of severe neurological impairment).
The severe neurological symptoms seen in children with PCH2A are caused by how the disease affects the brain. MRI allows us to visualize these abnormalities more precisely and thus gain important insights into the disease.
In their 2011 study “Clinical, neuroradiological and genetic findings in pontocerebellar hypoplasia”, Namavar et al. demonstrated the connection between genetic findings on the one hand, and brain abnormalities seen in imaging as well as clinical symptoms of patients with pontocerebellar hypoplasia on the other.
In their 2008 study “Mutations in the tRNA splicing endonuclease cause pontocerebellar hypoplasia”, Budde et al. demonstrated the genetic cause of PCH2 through genomic analysis. The underlying change is located on chromosome 17q25, specifically in the TSEN54 gene.
In their 1990 article “The inherited syndrome of microcephaly, dyskinesia and pontocerebellar hypoplasia: a systemic atrophy with early onset”, Barth et al. reported on a neurodegenerative disorder observed in seven children from five related families.
