What is Dandy Walker?Dandy-Walker Syndrome is a congenital brain malformation involving the cerebellum (a part at the back of the brain that controls movement) and the fluid filled spaces around it.
Symptoms, which often occur in early infancy, include slow motor development and progressive enlargement of the skull. In older children, symptoms of increased intracranial pressure such as irritability, vomiting, and convulsions, and signs of cerebellar dysfunction such as unsteadiness, lack of muscle coordination, or jerky movements of the eyes may occur. Other symptoms include increased head circumference, bulging at the back of the skull, problems with the nerves that control the eyes, face and neck, and abnormal breathing patterns. Dandy-Walker Syndrome is frequently associated with disorders of other areas of the central nervous system including absence of the corpus callosum and malformations of the heart, face, limbs, fingers and toes.
- Dandy-Walker syndrome is estimated to affect 1 in 25,000 to 30,000 newborns.
- Most cases of DW syndrome are sporadic, which means they occur in people with no history of the disorder in their family.
- It can be a feature of some conditions in which there is an extra copy of 1 chromosome in each cell (trisomy).
- It's often associated w/ disorders of other areas of the central nervous system.
Symptoms, which often occur in early infancy, include slow motor development and progressive enlargement of the skull. In older children, symptoms of increased intracranial pressure such as irritability, vomiting, and convulsions, and signs of cerebellar dysfunction such as unsteadiness, lack of muscle coordination, or jerky movements of the eyes may occur. Other symptoms include increased head circumference, bulging at the back of the skull, problems with the nerves that control the eyes, face and neck, and abnormal breathing patterns. Dandy-Walker Syndrome is frequently associated with disorders of other areas of the central nervous system including absence of the corpus callosum and malformations of the heart, face, limbs, fingers and toes.
