Interstitial deletion of long arm of chromosome 13

The case is presented of a patient with the karyotype 46,XX,del(13q)(pter----q22::q32----qter) confirmed by densitometry and a phenotype of mental and growth deficiency, hypotonia, hypertelorism, ptosis, broad nasal bridge, protruding upper incisors, short neck, dislocation of the hip, hypoplasia of the thumbs, fusion of fourth and fifth metacarpal bones and syndactyly of toes. The findings are compared with those of well documented cases with a similar deleted segment of the long arm of chromosome 13. Although it seems obvious that a clinical syndrome for the distal deletion 13q appears to exist more studies with banded chromosomes are needed.