Familial recurrence of nonsyndromic interrupted aortic arch and truncus arteriosus with atrioventricular canal.
BACKGROUND
Multifactorial inheritance is probably involved in most cases of nonsyndromic conotruncal heart defects (CHDs), but Mendelian transmission is often suspected.


RESULTS
We report on a family with recurrence of nonsyndromic CTHD in two double first cousins; i.e., two brothers married two sisters. One of the cousins (case 1) had interrupted aortic arch (IAA) type B, while the other one (case 2) had truncus arteriosus (TA) with atrioventricular canal defect (AVCD).


CONCLUSIONS
Our family further supports monogenic inheritance of CTHDs. In addition, the presence of TA associated with AVCD in one of the patients confirms the higher occurrence of CTHD in families with complex TA. The absence of 22q11 microdeletion (del22q11) in our patients, as in several literature reports of familial CTHDs, supports the existence of genes different to those located on chromosome 22q11 which could be implicated in the pathogenesis of CTHDs.
Digilio
M C
MC
Department of Medical Genetics, Bambino Gesù Hospital, 00165 Rome, Italy.
Marino
B
B
Musolino
A M
AM
Giannotti
A
A
Dallapiccola
B
B
D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000002:abnormalities*; D002892:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 22; D019066:Facies; D005192:Family Health; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D017353:Gene Deletion; D006343:Heart Septal Defects / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D014338:Truncus Arteriosus / Q000002:abnormalities*