Klippel–Feil syndrome

Klippel–Feil syndrome (KFS), also known as cervical vertebral fusion syndrome, is a rare condition present at birth (congenital disease) characterized by the abnormal joining (fusion) of any two of the seven bones in the neck (cervical vertebrae).:578 It results in a limited ability to move the neck and shortness of the neck resulting in the appearance of a low hairline. Klippel–Feil syndrome (KFS), also known as cervical vertebral fusion syndrome, is a rare condition present at birth (congenital disease) characterized by the abnormal joining (fusion) of any two of the seven bones in the neck (cervical vertebrae).:578 It results in a limited ability to move the neck and shortness of the neck resulting in the appearance of a low hairline. The syndrome is difficult to diagnose as it occurs in a group of patients, affected with many different abnormalities, who can only be unified by the presence of fused or segmental cervical vertebrae. The disease was initially reported in 1884 by Maurice Klippel and André Feil from France. In 1919, in his Doctor of Philosophy thesis, André Feil suggested another classification of the syndrome, encompassing not only deformation of the cervical spine, but also deformation of the lumbar and thoracic spine.