Article

Imaging Diagnosis of Lateral Meningocele Syndrome

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Abstract

Lateral meningocele syndrome, also known as Lehman syndrome, is an exceptionally uncommon genetic disorder, which is characterized by specific facial features and multisystem involvement, including skeletal, cardiac, and urogenital anomalies, akin to other connective tissue disorders, but it is set apart by the unique occurrence of multiple lateral meningoceles. Knowledge of the distinctive imaging features can strongly suggest the diagnosis in patients with complex clinical presentations to assist in the guidance of appropriate and timely clinical management.

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Lehman syndrome, or lateral meningocele syndrome, is characterized by facial dysmorphism, multiple lateral meningoceles, and skeletal abnormalities. Only nine cases have been described. We present a case of a 2-year-old boy presenting with micrognathia, glossoptosis, and hypertelorism as well as associated severe obstructive sleep apnea. He was submitted to bilateral mandibular distraction with external nonresorbable devices to correct Pierre Robin sequence (PRS). Later, multiple lateral meningoceles were identified, and a diagnosis of Lehman syndrome was made. Lehman syndrome must be considered in syndromic infants with PRS. Distraction osteogenesis is a safe procedure that is effective as a first choice in the treatment of patients with Lehman syndrome presenting with micrognathia.
Article
Lateral meningocele syndrome (LMS) is a rare genetic connective tissue disorder. It is associated with morphological changes similar to those of other connective tissue disorders, with the unique distinction of multiple, often bilateral and large, lateral meningoceles herniating through the spinal foramina. In some cases, these lateral meningoceles can cause pain and discomfort due to their presence within retroperitoneal tissues or cause direct compression of the spinal nerve root exiting the foramen; in some cases compression may also involve motor weakness. The presence of lateral meningoceles imposes unique challenges related to CSF flow dynamics, especially with concurrent Chiari malformation, which also occurs with increased frequency in individuals with LMS. The authors present the case of a 6-month-old female with LMS with multiple lateral meningoceles throughout the thoracic and lumbar spine. The infant experienced a focal neurological abnormality due to enlargement of her lateral meningoceles following decompression of a symptomatic Chiari malformation and endoscopic third ventriculostomy. The finding was reversed through implantation of a ventriculoperitoneal shunt, which reduced the burden of CSF upon the lateral meningoceles. Such a case compels consideration that CSF flow dynamics in addition to altered connective tissue play a role in the presence of lateral meningoceles in patients within this and similar patient populations.
Article
Lateral meningocele syndrome (LMS), or Lehman syndrome, is a rare disorder characterized by multiple lateral spinal meningoceles, distinctive facial features, joint hypermobility and hypotonia, along with skeletal, cardiac, and urogenital anomalies. Heterozygous NOTCH3 mutations affecting the terminal exon 33 were recently reported as causative in six families with LMS. We report a boy with LMS, the fourteenth reported case, with a de novo 80 base pair deletion in exon 33 of NOTCH3. Our patient's prenatal findings, complex cardiac anomalies, and severe feeding difficulties further expand our understanding of this rare condition.
Article
Lateral meningocele syndrome (LMS, OMIM%130720), also known as Lehman syndrome, is a very rare skeletal disorder with facial anomalies, hypotonia and meningocele-related neurologic dysfunction. The characteristic lateral meningoceles represent the severe end of the dural ectasia spectrum and are typically most severe in the lower spine. Facial features of LMS include hypertelorism and telecanthus, high arched eyebrows, ptosis, midfacial hypoplasia, micrognathia, high and narrow palate, low-set ears and a hypotonic appearance. Hyperextensibility, hernias and scoliosis reflect a connective tissue abnormality, and aortic dilation, a high-pitched nasal voice, wormian bones and osteolysis may be present. Lateral meningocele syndrome has phenotypic overlap with Hajdu–Cheney syndrome. We performed exome resequencing in five unrelated individuals with LMS and identified heterozygous truncating NOTCH3 mutations. In an additional unrelated individual Sanger sequencing revealed a deleterious variant in the same exon 33. In total, five novel de novo NOTCH3 mutations were identified in six unrelated patients. One had a 26 bp deletion (c.6461_6486del, p.G2154fsTer78), two carried the same single base pair insertion (c.6692_93insC, p.P2231fsTer11), and three individuals had a nonsense point mutation at c.6247A > T (pK2083*), c.6663C > G (p.Y2221*) or c.6732C > A, (p.Y2244*). All mutations cluster into the last coding exon, resulting in premature termination of the protein and truncation of the negative regulatory proline-glutamate-serine-threonine rich PEST domain. Our results suggest that mutant mRNA products escape nonsense mediated decay. The truncated NOTCH3 may cause gain-of-function through decreased clearance of the active intracellular product, resembling NOTCH2 mutations in the clinically related Hajdu–Cheney syndrome and contrasting the NOTCH3 missense mutations causing CADASIL. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Article
Lateral meningocele syndrome (LMS) is a rare hereditary connective tissue disorder characterized by pan-spinal meningoceles, specific facial dysmorphism, skeletal and soft tissue abnormalities, and hypotonia and/or muscle weakness. LMS has been observed in eleven patients with two instances of vertical transmission, and seven sporadic cases with an age at diagnosis ranging from 25 months to 33 years. We report on a further observation of LMS in a 55-year-old woman presenting with a long history of joint instability, chronic musculoskeletal pain, and iatrogenic bladder and anorectal dysfunction due to irreversible nerve damage after surgical excision of a meningeal cyst. Her clinical characteristics are compared with those of previously reported patients, as well as two further cases originally diagnosed with Hajdu-Cheney and Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, but displaying typical features of LMS. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Article
Lateral meningocele syndrome is a rare disorder of unknown etiology, first described in 1977 and subsequently reported in nine other patients. These patients present distinctive craniofacial features and skeletal abnormalities in addition to multiple lateral meningoceles, suggesting a connective tissue disorder. Autosomal dominant inheritance is clearly suggested in one family and could explain familiar aggregation in another. We describe a simplex case of lateral meningocele syndrome with bicuspid aortic valve, supporting the hypothesis of a connective tissue basis for this disorder and further expanding the phenotype. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Article
One female and two male patients with multiple lateral meningoceles are presented. They do not have neurofibromatosis or Marfan syndrome and share findings with the two previously described patients with multiple lateral meningoceles. The original report by Lehman et al. [1977: J Pediatr 90:49–54] was titled “familial osteosclerosis,” because osteosclerosis was present in the proposita and her mother; the patient described by Philip et al. [1995: Clin Dysmorphol 4:347–351] also had increased bone density of the skull base and the sutures. Thickened calvaria were present in one of our patients; two had a prominent metopic suture. Other shared findings include multiple lateral meningoceles, Wormian bones, malar hypoplasia, downslanted palpebral fissures, a high narrow palate, and cryptorchidism in males. In addition, our patients showed ligamentous laxity, keloid formation, hypotonia, and developmental delay. A short umbilical cord was noted in two patients. One had a hypoplastic posterior arch of the atlas and an enlarged sella, as reported by Lehman et al. [1977]. Our patients appear to have the same syndrome as previously reported. We suggest it be called “lateral meningocele syndrome,” because of this unique finding. Am. J. Med. Genet. 70:229–239, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Lateral meningocele syndrome
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