Cri-du-Chat is /

French for “cry of

the cat” because

of the distinctive

cry of children

with the disorder.

This cat like cry

is cause by an ab-

normal larynx

development.. It

usually becomes

less noticeable as

the baby gets

older, making it

difficult for doc-

tors to diagnose

cri-du-chat after

age two.

Cri-du-Chat

Cri-du-Chat Syndrome

What It Is 1

Causes 2

Symptoms 2

Treatments 3

Pictures 4

Inside this issue:

and talking correctly. They

may have behavior problems

(such as hyperactivity or ag-

gression), and severe mental

retardation. If no major organ

defects or other critical medi-

cal conditions exist, life expec-

tancy is normal.

over their eyes, and a small

bridge of the nose.

Problems inside the body also

occur. A small number of chil-

dren have heart defects, mus-

cular or skeletal problems,

hearing or sight problems, or

poor muscle tone. As they

grow, people with cri-du-chat

usually have difficulty walking

A deletion occurs because a

break in the DNA molecule

that makes up a chromo-

some. In most cases, the

chromosome break occurs

while the sperm or egg cell

is developing. When this

gamete is fertilized, the

child will develop cri-du-

chat syndrome. The parent,

however, does not have the

break in any other cells of

the body and does not have

the syndrome. In fact, the

break is usually such a rare

event that it is very unlikely

to happen again if the parent

has another child. It is possi-

ble for a child to inherit a

broken chromosome from a

parent who also had the dis-

order.

Symptoms

Causes

People affected by this disor-

der are small at birth, and may

have respiratory problems. Of-

ten, the larynx doesn't develop

correctly, which causes the sig-

nature cat-like cry. They may

also have a small head

(microcephaly), an unusually

round face, a small chin,

widely set eyes, folds of skin

Page 2 Cri-du-Chat Syndrome

There are no real treatments

for Cri-du-Chat. Affected

children can go through

therapy to improve their lan-

guage skills, motor skills,

and to help them develop as

normally as possible. It is

only found in about 1 to

50,000 births.

Page 3

Treatments