Werner's syndrome.

A typical patient with this uncommon premature aging syndrome was followed over a period of four and a half years until his death. He presented the characteristic clinical features, as well as the complications, of Werner's syndrome. About one hundred forty cases of this recessively inherited syndrome have been reported. Most patients become recognizable in their thirties by their short stature, typical facies, premature graying, hair loss, cataracts, atrophy of skin and subcutaneous tissue, and acral sclerosis. Advanced peripheral vascular disease occurs early; angina, skin cancer, diabetes mellitus, and internal malignancy are common. Most patients die before the age of fifty years either from complications of anteriosclerotic vascular disease or malignancy.