Aims: To document the optic disc abnormalities in patients with frontonasal dysplasia in association with basal encephalocele.
Methods: Names and hospital numbers of patients with midline clefts were obtained from the ophthalmology and genetics database. Six patients were identified who had the following common findings: midline facial cleft with midline cleft lip and palate; hypertelorism; absent corpus callosum; basal (sphenoethmoidal) encephalocele; and pituitary deficiency (five out of six cases). Ophthalmic examination was performed with fundal photography where possible.
Results: Two patients had unilateral and one a bilateral peripapillary staphyloma. Two patients had bilateral optic disc hypoplasia and one appeared to have a peripapillary staphyloma in one eye and a morning glory disc in the other.
Conclusion: Optic disc abnormalities were found in all patients with this constellation of clinical findings. This association appears to represent a distinct subgroup within the spectrum of frontonasal dysplasia. The presence of midline facial anomalies and any dysplastic disc should alert the physician as to the presence of an encephalocele.