A CLINICAL SEVERITY GRADING SCALE FOR MARFAN-SYNDROME

There is considerable interest in assessing patients with Marfan syndr ome at the clinical, protein, and genetic levels. Clinical assessments are inconsistent between centres and between clinicians. There are no satisfactory clinical grading scales against which to analyse the mol ecular information, limiting the scope of clinical/molecular correlati ons. We present grading scales for the major clinical systems involved in Marfan syndrome and suggest that their widespread use will facilit ate collaborative approaches to clinical/molecular correlations and in ternational assessments of therapy.