Last modified on Saturday, February 17 2007.

Image courtesy of National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health
A 13 year-old female presents with a history of awkward gait, dysarthric speech, ataxia of the limbs, and grimacing, which have been slowly progressing since early childhood.
On exam, you notice the eye findings shown in the image above.
This child is at increased risk for all of the following complications, EXCEPT:
This patient's history and eye findings are diagnostic for ataxia-telangiectasia. This is associated with an increased risk of early greying of the hair. (
This patient's history and eye findings are diagnostic for ataxia-telangiectasia. This is associated with an increased risk of hypertrichosis (
This patient's history and eye findings are diagnostic for ataxia-telangiectasia. This is associated with immunodeficiency. (
This patient's history and eye findings are diagnostic for ataxia-telangiectasia. This is associated with increased cellular sensitivity to ionizing radiation. (
This patient's history and eye findings are diagnostic for ataxia-telangiectasia. Most people with ataxia-telangiectasia have normal intellectual development. (
| 1. Santos, C.C., Miller, V.S., and Roach, E.S. (2004). Neurocutaneous syndromes. In Bradley, W.G., Daroff, R.B., Fenichel, G.M., and Jankovic, J. (Eds.). Neurology in Clinical Practice, 4th Edition. Butterworth Heinemann, Philadelphia. Pp. 1867-1900. | |
| 2. NINDS Ataxia Telangiectasia Information Page, NINDS. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/a_t/a-t.htm | |
| 3. Victor, M., and Ropper, A.H. (2001). Adams and Victor's Principles of Neurology, 7th Edition. McGraw-Hill, New York. Pp. 1011-1012. | |