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Sanfilippo syndrome

Symptoms:
  • Family history of Sanfilippo syndrome
  • May have normal growth during first few years, but final height is below average
  • Delayed development followed by deteriorating mental status
  • Deterioration of gait
  • Coarse facial features
  • Full lips
  • Heavy eyebrows that meet in the middle of the face above the nose
  • Diarrhea
  • Stiff joints that may not extend fully


Signs and tests:
  • Hepatomegaly (liver enlargement)
  • Spleen enlargement
  • Clear corneas
  • Echocardiogram may show thickened heart
  • Abnormal bone x-rays, such as thickened skull and oval vertebrae
  • Seizures, mental retardation
  • Activities of one of the enzymes (listed above in "Alternative Names") may be low in fibroblast skin cells
  • Urine may have increased heparan sulfate
  • Abnormal, pathological staining character of white blood cells called metachromasia



Review Date: 4/20/2005
Reviewed By: Neal Sondheimer, M.D., PhD., Division of Genetics and Metabolism, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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