OBJECTIVE: The cat eye syndrome is considered a rare chromosomal disease and a phenotypically quite variable condition. The objective of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics of a sample of patients with the syndrome evaluated in our Service. METHODS: Six patients with diagnosis of cat eye syndrome were retrospectively evaluated. All presented a karyotype with presence of an additional chromosome marker, inv dup(22)(pter->q11.2::q11.2->pter). One of them still had a mosaicism with a lineage with a normal chromosomal constitution. Clinical and evolution data were collected from their medical records. Fisher exact test (P<0.05) was used for comparison between the frequencies found in our study and literature. RESULTS: The main abnormalities found were preauricular skin tags/pits and imperforate anus (both observed in 83% of cases). Iris coloboma, an important feature of the syndrome was verified in 2 cases (33%). Congenital heart defect observed in 4 patients (67%), with the atrial septal defect (75%) as the most observed. Uncommon features included the hemifacial microsomia associated to microtia, besides biliary atresia. In relation to the evolution, only one of the patients died and this occurred secondary to quilothorax and sepsis. CONCLUSION: The phenotype observed in the cat eye syndrome is very variable and may overlap with that of oculo-auriculo-vertebral spectrum. Despite the good prognosis usually presented by the individuals, also from the neurological point of view, we believe that all patients with the syndrome should be evaluated as early as possible for presence of heart, biliary and anorectal malformations. This should avoid possible complications, including death.
Chromosomes, human, pair 22; Mosaicism; Goldenhar syndrome; Facial asymmetry
