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Investigation of a cyclopic, human, term fetus by use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Author(s) -
Situ D.,
Reifel C. W.,
Smith R.,
Lyons G. W.,
Temkin R.,
HarperLittle C.,
Pang S. C.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.932
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1469-7580
pISSN - 0021-8782
DOI - 10.1046/j.1469-7580.2002.00053.x
Subject(s) - cyclopia , holoprosencephaly , anatomy , magnetic resonance imaging , corpus callosum , falx cerebri , orbit (dynamics) , craniofacial , neuroanatomy , medicine , fetus , biology , radiology , pregnancy , genetics , psychiatry , engineering , aerospace engineering
Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the internal neural and craniofacial malformations of a cyclopic fetus are described. External facial features were characterized by a tubular proboscis situated above a single eye slit. The brain was recognized as ‘pancake’ type alobar holoprosencephaly (a condition where the undifferentiated telencephalon partially surrounds a monoventricle). Displacement of some bones that normally contribute to the orbit could be clearly discerned. Absence of neural structures (e.g. falx cerebri, corpus callosum) and missing components of the ethmoid bone indicated a midline deficit. This correlates with proposed theories of cyclopic embryopathy, which suggest that the prechordal plate and the neural crest cells are affected during the third week of gestation in cyclopia.