Chondrodysplasia punctata-23 cases of a mild and relatively common variety.

A common form of chondrodysplasia punctata has been defined by characteristic clinical and radiologic features in 23 patients seen in Melbourne. The patients presented during infancy because of failure to thrive, apparent mental retardation, and/or unusual appearance. The typical facies is almost diagnostic, and the diagnosis is completed by finding punctate calcification in the calcaneum in lateral radiographs of the feet, and sometimes in other sites. Growth and developmental progress improved during childhood and the final outcome seems likely to comprise low normal height and intelligence with persistence of typical facies. Mild cases probably pass unrecognized at present. Seventeen patients were male. Paternal age was significantly increased; however, family data did not support a genetic cause. Illnesses during pregnancy were unusually frequent, and anticonvulsants taken during pregnancy may have had an etiologic role in some patients.