title: Sixteenth-century German woodcut of a male infant with possible disorganization.
abstract: History has preserved a beautiful 16th century woodcut print, which depicts an infant with several malformations. The German inscription describes the infant's hypotonia and ectopic growths, and the image itself shows a child with an ectopic accessory third lower limb, a large papilla, and an omphalocele-like growth. The 'case' bears striking similarity to reported human cases of the disorganization (Ds) syndrome. This article describes the woodcut, describes Ds, and then explains how the image may represent the earliest depiction of Ds in history.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Residency Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: T F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Heyne
authors.affiliation: Departments of Genetics, Pediatrics, and Surgery, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Robin
authors.affiliation: Medical Genetics Unit, Mass General Hospital for Children, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: A E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000015:Abnormalities, Multiple / Q000266:history*; D000818:Animals; D049669:History, 16th Century; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D010151:Paintings / Q000266:history*; D013577:Syndrome
keywords: German; art; congenital; disorganization; history; malformation; woodcut