Objectives

Anencephaly is a designation for congenital absence of the cranial vault with cerebral hemispheres completely missing or decreased to small masses attached to the base of the skull. The etiology is unknown. Whether the bony tissue or soft brain tissue is a primary factor is also unknown. The present study has focused on the posterior cranial fossa in anencephaly. The goal is to determine whether differences in the posterior cranial fossa could provide a basis for subclassification of anencephalic fetal skeletons. Twenty-three human anencephalic fetuses, at gestational ages 13 to 22 weeks, were studied. Radiologic and cephalometric analyses, including measurements of bone sizes and different angles, were performed. Permission for autopsy of the central nervous system was not available. For comparison of anencephalic findings with normal conditions, standards from a recent publication were used. Foot length served as a parameter for age comparison. The study showed 2 morphologic types of the posterior cranial fossa. One type had a fossa cranial morphology close to normal morphology, whereas the other had a malformed and much smaller posterior cranial fossa. The latter condition was presumed to be due to a primary error in chondral and cranial development. The current skeletal subgrouping might be essential for clinicians' or pathologists' future assessment of the autopsy results. The skeletal subgrouping should, if possible, be associated with karyotyping and analysis of the central nervous system. The goal is to distinguish between congenital conditions resulting in anencephaly and acquired conditions resulting in anencephaly.

The main conclusion of our study is that the total palatal length in prenatal trisomy 21 is shorter than normal and that this is due both to a shortness of the maxillary and the palatine components of the hard palate.

The aim of the present study was to compare, both radiographically and histologically, malformed vertebral lumbar corpora in trisomies 21, 18 and 13 with earlier reported normal corporal development in the axial lumbar region. Axial skeletons of human fetuses (GA 15-22 wk) derived from therapeutically induced abortion were investigated in connection with requested autopsy. The number of lumbar vertebral corpora examined for each genotype was as follows: 20 from trisomy 21, 10 from trisomy 18, and 10 from trisomy 13. After radiography in frontal, lateral and axial projections, the individual vertebral corpora were decalcified and horizontally embedded in paraffin. The blocks were serially sectioned and stained with toluidine blue and alcian blue/van Gieson. The radiographic characteristics of the vertebral corpora varied from an almost normal appearance of the corporal bone to complete clefting of the bony corpora. Histological examination showed accumulations of cartilage centrally, in some cases associated with amorphous material. Pronounced metachromatic differences were observed in the cartilaginous ground substance. The study showed identical phenotypic characteristics in the corpora from trisomy 21, trisomy 18, and trisomy 13. It is characteristic of all three genotypes that there are central anomalies, corresponding to the location of the notochord in normal corpora, and marked regional differences in metachromasia in the ground substance of the cartilage.

A case is reported of the co-existence of granulosa-cell tumour in the ovary and endometrial cancer of the rectum in a 36-year-old woman. The endometrial cancer originated in the endometriotic tissue of the muscular liayer of the rectum. Ovarian and pelvic endo-metrio& together with endometriosis of the mall intestine had been diagnosed earlier. The patient had presented symptoms of endometriosis for several years. The simultaneous occurrence of granulosa-cell1 tumour and malignant transformation of endometriotic tissue is considered by the authors as probably having a causal back-Acta Obstet Gynec Scand 53 (1974)