International meeting on Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome: Update on the nosology and new insights on the pathogenic mechanisms for seizures and growth delay.

"An International Meeting on Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome (WHS)" was held at The University Hospital La Paz in Madrid, Spain (October 13-14, 2017). One hundred and twenty-five people, including physicians, scientists and affected families, attended the meeting. Parent and patient advocates from the Spanish Association of WHS opened the meeting with a panel discussion to set the stage regarding their hopes and expectations for therapeutic advances. In keeping with the theme on therapeutic development, the sessions followed a progression from description of the phenotype and definition of therapeutic endpoints, to definition of genomic changes. These proceedings will review the major points of discussion.

A practical approach to dental care for patients with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome.

Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome is a polymalformative chromosomal disorder caused by a deletion in the distal region of the short arm of chromosome 4. The disease is considered rare (1/50,000 births) and predominantly affects females (2:1). In addition to the characteristic facial phenotype ("Greek warrior helmet"), its clinical manifestations include epilepsy, developmental and psychomotor delay, intellectual disability, cardiac and respiratory complications, and eating problems. The most prevalent oral manifestations are hypodontia, delayed tooth eruption, morphological dental abnormalities, dental malocclusions, cleft lip/palate and ogival palate. Based on our clinical experience, Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome does not represent an absolute contraindication for any type of dental procedure. The feasibility of dental treatment will depend mainly on the degree of epilepsy control and on the level of collaboration, this latter conditioned by the severity of the intellectual disability and communication difficulties.