Information

Why is it called Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS)?


In 1933, Dr. Cornelia de Lange, a Dutch pediatrician, described two children with similar features, one 17 months and the other 6 months, who were admitted within weeks of each other to Emma Children's Hospital. The first child had pneumonia. Her first year of life had been characterized by a lot of feeding difficulties and she was very small for her age, with a proportionately smaller head circumference.

Other unusual facial characteristics were noted by Dr. de Lange. Soon after this child was discharged, a second little girl was admitted. Not only did they have common medical problems, but their resemblance to each other was remarkable. In each case the doctor described what she observed with great care and detail.

Professor de Lange followed her own advice: "Observe closely first." Nowhere was the puzzled physician able to find a similar patient described in medical literature. Cornelia de Lange is now generally credited with describing the collection of symptoms comprising the syndrome that bears her name.
The syndrome is sometimes referred to as Brachmann-de-Lange Syndrome after Dr. W. Brachmann, who described a similar patient in 1916. Dr. de Lange may have overlooked his report because he concentrated on characteristics of the upper limbs and wrote on the facial symptoms less specifically.

Find other pages that share the same topic as this page Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS)?2

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     


  

About the website contents

All of the information on this WebSite is for education purposes only. The place to get specific medical advice, diagnoses, and treatment is your doctor. Use of this site is strictly at your own risk. If you find something that you think needs correction or clarification, please let us know at: 

Send a email: info@cdlsWorld.org