[Genital malformations in thalidomide-damaged girls (author's transl)]

Due to the close morphological relationships and the dependence of the genital system on inductive impulses from the uropoietic system, the possibility of an increased incidence of malformations in the area of the female genitals for thalidomide-damaged children is to be expected. This suspicion is supported by the accumulation of reports of genital malformations in deceased children from mothers who took thalidomide-containing medicaments during the early weeks of pregnancy. - A 14-year-old patient with malformations of both upper extremities whose mother had taken thalidomide during the 6th to the 9th week of pregnancy presented at our hospital with complaints of cyclic pain in the lower abdomen. Although the ovaries and fallopian tubes were normally developed, the uterus and the vagina were absent in this patient. After this manuscript had been completed, we heard of 3 additional cases of genital malformation with a known thalidomide anamnesis.