[Approach to chronic cerebellar diseases in children]

Cerebellar pathology in infants falls into two parts. The pathology that is accessible to a molecular approach is represented mainly by monogenic metabolic diseases of postnatal expression while the pathology that remains descriptive is represented mainly by congenital disorders of cerebellar development. These disorders may be associated with a variety of abnormalities defining a rapidly increasing number of syndromes. Identification of the numerous morphogenes involved in cerebellar development will probably result not only from extrapolation to man of homologous recombinations experiments but also from genetic investigations in exceptional clinical cases.