Letter to the Editor

Cervical Ribs in Mid-Trimester Fetuses

To the Editor:

I read with great interest the recent article ‘‘CervicalRibs in Fetuses With Ullrich-Turner Syndrome (UTS)’’by Kjaer and Fischer-Hansen [1997]. In their radiologi-cal study of nine fetuses with this condition between15 1/2 and 22 gestational weeks, they found bilateral orunilateral cervical ribs in all cases and concluded thatthis is a phenotypic characteristic of UTS and directlyapplicable to autopsy diagnosis. However, this studyused no control fetuses at all: No comparison was madewith either age-matched chromosomally and develop-mentally normal fetuses or with other abnormal fe-tuses.

I have examined numerous radiographs of fetuses inboth of these categories, ranging in age from 16 to 22

weeks of gestation. It is my observation that cervicalribs always seem to be present at this stage of gestationin all fetuses both normal and with a whole range ofabnormalities.

Thus, at least during the mid-second trimester, thereis no specificity: Cervical ribs are universally presentin fetuses.

Mary J. Seller*Division of Medical and Molecular GeneticsUnited Medical and Dental Schools of Guy’s

and St. Thomas’s HospitalsGuy’s HospitalLondon, United Kingdom

*Correspondence to: Dr. Mary J Seller, Division of Medical &Molecular Genetics, 8th floor Guy’s Hospital Tower, LondonBridge, London SE1 9RT, United Kingdom.

Received 16 December 1997; Accepted 21 April 1998

American Journal of Medical Genetics 78:391 (1998)

© 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.