Coarctation of the aorta with aortic arch hypoplasia in newborn with partial trisomy 11q associated to 4q interstitial deletion

This article reports the case of newborn with multiple dimorphisms (microcephaly, hypertelorism, wide and flat nasal bridge, small nose, long philtrum, microretrognathia, malformed and low-set ears, short neck, redundant nuchal skin, genital anomalies), admitted in the hospital after two days from delivery for torpor, poor food and cyanosis. Babies were affected, at color-Doppler echocardiography, by coarctation of the aorta (CoA) with aortic arch hypoplasia. CoA is often associated to genetic and environmental factors that interact frequently. In this study the anamnestic absence of teratogen noxae and the presence of facial and genital anomalies suggest a genetic study to provide appropriate genetic information to parents. G-banding chromosomic analysis revealed a 46, XX der 4t(4;11) karyotype with partial 11q trisomy confirmed with FISH chromosome painting 4;11 and with FISH subtelomere specific 4(p/q)11(p/q). These techniques showed that derivative chromosome 4 was constituted by chromosome 4 with partial deletion in the q35 region and by 11q21 translocation. This rare anomaly is often inherited by an unbalanced segregation of a balanced translocation, present in one of the two parents. In the present study, the father carried a t(4q;11q) balanced translocation. A CGH-array analysis was executed to the child for the breakpoints definition. As 11q trisomy cases reported in literature are still few, this case can contribute to improve our knowledge on the genotype-phenotype correlation in this rare genetic anomaly.