PRENATAL-DIAGNOSIS IN TREACHER-COLLINS SYNDROME USING COMBINED LINKAGE ANALYSIS AND ULTRASOUND IMAGING

Treacher Collins syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder of facial development, the features of which include conductive hearing loss and cleft palate. In the current investigation, linkage analysis has been used to make first trimester diagnostic predictions in a pregnancy at high risk of producing an affected child. The results of this analysi s predicted that the child would be affected. As predictions of the se verity of the disease were not possible, the pregnancy was also assess ed by ultrasound imaging. This confirmed the affected diagnosis and pr edicted that the child would be severely affected.