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Updated: Jun 22, 2026
Three and Four-Dimensional Visualization and Analysis Approaches to Study Vertebrate Axial Elongation and Segmentation
Published on: February 28, 2021
3-D reconstruction of a human fetus with combined holoprosencephaly and cyclopia
Wolfgang H Arnold1, Veronika Meiselbach
1Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Witten/Herdecke, Alfred Herrhausenstrasse 50, 58448 Witten, Germany. wolfgang.arnold@uni-wh.de
Background:
The purpose of this study was to examine a human fetus with combined holoprosencephaly and cyclopia by means of histology and 3-D reconstruction to determine the internal structure and extent of the malformation.
Methods:
The head from a human fetus at 20 weeks gestation and a diagnosis of holoprosencephaly and cyclopia was investigated histologically and three-dimensionally reconstructed with CAD techniques. The cranial bones, blood vessels, nerves, eye and brain anlagen were reconstructed.
Results:
The 3-D reconstruction revealed both severe malformation and absence of the facial midline bones above the maxilla, and a malformation of the maxilla and sphenoid bone. The mandible, posterior cranial bones, cranial nerves and blood vessels were normal. A synophthalmic eye with two lenses was found. The prosencephalon was a single small protrusion above the diencephalon. No nasal cavity was present. Above the single eye a proboscis was found.
Conclusion:
The absence of the facial midline bones above the maxilla and the presence of a proboscis as a nose-like structure above the cyclopic eye both mean that there was a developmental defect in the fronto-nasal facial process of this fetus.
