Since Duane-radial ray syndrome is a genetic disorder, a genetic test would be performed. One test that can be used is the SALL4 sequence analysis that is used to detect if SALL4 is present. If there is no pathogenic variant observed, a deletion/duplication analysis can be ordered following the SALL4 sequence analysis. As an alternative, another genetic test called a multi-gene panel can be ordered to detect SALL4 and any other genes of interest. The methods used for this panel vary depending on the laboratory.

MRI imaging can be used to detect whether the abducens nerve is present.

Diagnosis depends on the clinical scenario. However, karyotyping is an essential test for diagnosis.

The main diagnostic tools for evaluating FND are X-rays and CT-scans of the skull. These tools could display any possible intracranial pathology in FND. For example, CT can be used to reveal widening of nasal bones. Diagnostics are mainly used before reconstructive surgery, for proper planning and preparation.

Prenatally, various features of FND (such as hypertelorism) can be recognized using ultrasound techniques. However, only three cases of FND have been diagnosed based on a prenatal ultrasound.

Other conditions may also show symptoms of FND. For example, there are other syndromes that also represent with hypertelorism. Furthermore, disorders like an intracranial cyst can affect the frontonasal region, which can lead to symptoms similar to FND. Therefore, other options should always be considered in the differential diagnosis.

Diagnosis is usually based on clinical findings, although fetal chromosome testing will show trisomy 13. While many of the physical findings are similar to Edwards syndrome there are a few unique traits, such as polydactyly. However, unlike Edwards syndrome and Down syndrome, the quad screen does not provide a reliable means of screening for this disorder. This is due to the variability of the results seen in fetuses with Patau.

The diagnosis of Carpenter Syndrome is made based on the presence of the bicoronal and sagittal skull malformations, which results in a pointed, cone-shaped or short, broad head. The diagnosis is also made based on the presence of extra or fused digits. X rays and/ or CT scans of the skull may be performed in order to accurately diagnose the individual; however, other genetic disorders, which have available genetic tests, are also characterized by skull malformations. A positive result on these tests can rule out a Carpenter Syndrome diagnosis.

In a sample of 19 children, a 1997 study found that 3 died before the age of 3, and 2 never learned to walk. The children had various levels of delayed development with developmental quotients from 60 to 85.

There is no causative / curative therapy. Symptomatic medical treatments are focussing on symptoms caused by orthopaedic, dental or cardiac problems. Regarding perioperative / anesthesiological management, recommendations for medical professionals are published at OrphanAnesthesia.

Operations to correct the malformations of the skull should be performed within the first year of infancy in patients affected by Carpenter Syndrome. Performing surgery at a young age increases the likelihood of obtaining a greatly improved appearance of the head because modifying bone is much easier to do when the skull is still constantly growing and changing.

In surgery the doctor breaks the fused sutures to allow for brain growth. Doctors remove the cranial plates of the skull, reshape them and replace them back onto the skull in an attempt to reshape the head to appear more normal. Although the sutures are broken during surgery they will quickly refuse, and in some cases holes form in the plates allowing cerebral spinal fluid to escape into cyst like structures on the external surface of the head.

If an individual with Carpenter Syndrome has a serious heart defect they will require surgery to correct the malformation of the heart. Other elective surgeries may also be performed. Some parents opt to have their child’s webbed fingers or toes separated which improves their appearance but not necessarily the functionality of the digits. In order to address the occupational challenges of the disease, many children with Carpenter Syndrome go through speech and occupational therapy in order to achieve more independence in everyday tasks and activities (RN, 2007).

In order to address the vision problems that are associated with bicoronal craniosynostosis, the individual must seek consultation from an ophthalmologist. If the palate is severely affected dental consultation may be necessary to correct the malformation. Obesity is often associated with Carpenter Syndrome, so a lifelong diet plan is often utilized to maintain a healthy weight. In addition surgery must be performed if the testes fail to descend (Paul A. Johnson, 2002). If the procedure is not performed the individual will become infertile.

Dysplastic kidneys are prevalent in over 95% of all identified cases. When this occurs, microscopic cysts develop within the kidney and slowly destroy it, causing it to enlarge to 10 to 20 times its original size. The level of amniotic fluid within the womb may be significantly altered or remain normal, and a normal level of fluid should not be criteria for exclusion of diagnosis.

Occipital encephalocele is present in 60% to 80% of all cases, and post-axial polydactyly is present in 55% to 75% of the total number of identified cases. Bowing or shortening of the limbs are also common.

Finding at least two of the three phenotypic features of the classical triad, in the presence of normal karyotype, makes the diagnosis solid. Regular ultrasounds and pro-active prenatal care can usually detect symptoms early on in a pregnancy.

Medical diagnosis is required. Clinical tests can be performed, as well as molecular genetic testing. The available tests include:

Sequence analysis of the entire coding region

- Severe achondroplasia with developmental delay and acanthosis nigricans (SADDAN) - Sanger Sequencing: Diagnosis, Mutation Confirmation, Pre-symptomatic, Risk Assessment, Screening

- Craniosynostosis: Diagnosis

- Invitae FGFR3-Related Disorders Test: Pre-symptomatic, Diagnosis, Therapeutic management

Mutation scanning of select exons

- Skeletal Dysplasia Panel: Diagnosis, Prognostic

Sequence analysis of select exons

- Severe Achondroplasia with Developmental Delay and Acanthosis Nigricans (SADDAN, FGFR3): Diagnosis, Mutation Confirmation, Risk Assessment

- Severe Achondroplasia, Developmental Delay, Acanthosis Nigricans: Diagnosis, Mutation Confirmation

Deletion/duplication analysis

- Invitae FGFR3-Related Disorders Test: Pre-symptomatic, Diagnosis, Therapeutic management

Life with SADDAN is manageable, although therapy, surgery, and lifelong doctor surveillance may be required.

The disorder is characterized by absence or underdevelopment of the cerebellar vermis and a malformed brain stem (molar tooth sign), both of which can be visualized on a MRI scan. Together with this sign, the diagnosis is based on the physical symptoms and genetic testing for mutations. If the gene mutations have been identified in a family member, prenatal or carrier diagnosis can be pursued.

Joubert Syndrome is known to affect 1 in 80,000-100,000 newborns. Due to the variety of genes this disorder is affected by, it is likely to be under-diagnosed. It is commonly found in Ashkenazi Jewish, French-Canadians, and Hutterite ethnic populations. Most cases of Joubert syndrome are autosomal recessive - in these cases, both parents are either carriers or affected. Rarely, Joubert syndrome is inherited in an X-linked recessive pattern. In these cases, males are more commonly affected because affected males must have one X chromosome mutated, while affected females must have mutated genes on both X chromosomes.

The complete or partial absence of the pectoralis muscle is the malformation that defines Poland Syndrome. It can be treated by inserting a custom implant designed by CAD (computer aided design). A 3D reconstruction of the patient's chest is performed from a medical scanner to design a virtual implant perfectly adapted to the anatomy of each one. The implant is made of medical silicone unbreakable rubber. This treatment is purely cosmetic and does not make up for the patient's imbalanced upper body strength.

The Poland syndrome malformations being morphological, correction by custom implant is a first-line treatment. This technique allows a wide variety of patients to be treated with good outcomes. Poland Syndrome can be associated with bones, subcutaneous and mammary atrophy: if the first, as for pectus excavatum, is successfully corrected by a custom implant, the others can require surgical intervention such as lipofilling or silicone breast implant, in a second operation.

The differential diagnosis includes Treacher Collins syndrome, Nager acrofacial dysostosis (preaxial cranial dysostosis). Other types of axial cranial dysostosis included the Kelly, Reynolds, Arens (Tel Aviv), Rodríguez (Madrid), Richieri-Costa and Patterson-Stevenson-Fontaine forms.

There is no cure for this condition. Treatment is supportive and varies depending on how symptoms present and their severity. Some degree of developmental delay is expected in almost all cases of M-CM, so evaluation for early intervention or special education programs is appropriate. Rare cases have been reported with no discernible delay in academic or school abilities.

Physical therapy and orthopedic bracing can help young children with gross motor development. Occupational therapy or speech therapy may also assist with developmental delays. Attention from an orthopedic surgeon may be required for leg length discrepancy due to hemihyperplasia.

Children with hemihyperplasia are thought to have an elevated risk for certain types of cancers. Recently published management guidelines recommend regular abdominal ultrasounds up to age eight to detect Wilms' tumor. AFP testing to detect liver cancer is not recommended as there have been no reported cases of hepatoblastoma in M-CM patients.

Congenital abnormalities in the brain and progressive brain overgrowth can result in a variety of neurological problems that may require intervention. These include hydrocephalus, cerebellar tonsillar herniation (Chiari I), seizures and syringomyelia. These complications are not usually congenital, they develop over time often presenting complications in late infancy or early childhood, though they can become problems even later. Baseline brain and spinal cord MRI imaging with repeat scans at regular intervals is often prescribed to monitor the changes that result from progressive brain overgrowth.

Assessment of cardiac health with echocardiogram and EKG may be prescribed and arrhythmias or abnormalities may require surgical treatment.

The inheritance of Impossible syndrome is suspected to be autosomal recessive, which means the affected gene is located on an autosome, and two copies of the gene - one from each parent - are required to have an infant with the disorder.

Initially, the clinical presentation of SDS may appear similar to cystic fibrosis. However, CF can be excluded with a normal chloride in sweat test but faecal elastase as a marker of pancreatic function will be reduced. The variation, intermittent nature, and potential for long-term improvement of some clinical features make this syndrome difficult to diagnose. SDS may present with either malabsorption, or hematological problems. Rarely, SDS may present with skeletal defects, including severe rib cage abnormalities that lead to difficulty in breathing. Diagnosis is generally based on evidence of exocrine pancreatic dysfunction and neutropenia. Skeletal abnormalities and short stature are characteristics that can be used to support the diagnosis. The gene responsible for the disease has been identified and genetic testing is now available. Though useful in diagnostics, a genetic test does not surmount the need for careful clinical assessment and monitoring of all patients.

Three main support groups of this syndrome are the ASGA in Australia, The Association for Children with Genetic Disorders in Poland, and the Association of People of Genetic Disorders in Greece.

While not precisely known, it is estimated that the general rate of incidence, according to Bergsma, for Meckel syndrome is 0.02 per 10,000 births. According to another study done six years later, the incidence rate could vary from 0.07 to 0.7 per 10,000 births.

This syndrome is a Finnish heritage disease. Its frequency is much higher in Finland, where the incidence is as high as 1.1 per 10,000 births. It is estimated that Meckel syndrome accounts for 5% of all neural tube defects there.

More than 80% of children with Patau syndrome die within the first year of life. Children with the mosaic variation are usually affected to a lesser extent. In a retrospective Canadian study of 174 children with trisomy 13, median survival time was 12.5 days. One and ten year survival was 19.8% and 12.9% respectively.

The disorder was first described in 1969 by the German-American Human Geneticist Meinhard Robinow (1909–1997), along with physicians Frederic N. Silverman and Hugo D. Smith, in the "American Journal of Diseases of Children". By 2002, over 100 cases had been documented and introduced into medical literature.

Surgical treatment of the cleft hand is based on several indications:

Improving function

- Absent thumb

- Deforming syndactyly (mostly between digits of unequal length like index and thumb)

- Transverse bones (this will progress the deformity; growth of these bones will widen the cleft)

- Narrowed first webspace

- The feet

Aesthetical aspects

- Reducing deformity

It has several different types:

- type 1 - Apert syndrome

- type 2 - Crouzon syndrome

- type 3 - Saethre-Chotzen syndrome

- type 5 - Pfeiffer syndrome

A related term, "acrocephalopolysyndactyly" (ACPS), refers to the inclusion of polydactyly to the presentation. It also has multiple types:

- type 1 - Noack syndrome; now classified with Pfeiffer syndrome

- type 2 - Carpenter syndrome

- type 3 - Sakati-Nyhan-Tisdale syndrome

- type 4 - Goodman syndrome; now classified with Carpenter syndrome

- type 5 - Pfeiffer syndrome

It has been suggested that the distinction between "acrocephalosyndactyly" versus "acrocephalopolysyndactyly" should be abandoned.

The timing of surgical interventions is debatable. Parents have to decide about their child in a very vulnerable time of their parenthood. Indications for early treatment are progressive deformities, such as syndactyly between index and thumb or transverse bones between the digital rays. Other surgical interventions are less urgent and can wait for 1 or 2 years.

There are multiple classifications for the triphalangeal thumb. The reason for these different classifications is the heterogeneity in appearance of the TPT.

The classification according to Wood describes the shape of the extra phalanx: delta (Fig. 4), rectangular or full phalanx (Table 1). With the classification made by Buck-Gramcko a surgical treatment can be chosen (Table 1). Buck-Gramcko differentiates between six different shapes of the extra phalanx and associated malformations.

Table 1: Classifications of Wood and Buck-Gramcko