Синдром Пфайффера: генетические особенности, проявления и лечение.

Genetic disorder of the skull
There is no cure for the syndrome. Treatment is supportive and often involves surgery in the earliest years of life to correct skull deformities and respiratory function. The syndrome is named after a German geneticist, Rudolf Arthur Pfeiffer (1931–2012), who described it in 1964. A baby with Pfeiffer syndrome may have a small, beak shaped nose; crowded, crooked teeth; and sleep apnea, due to nasal blockage. There are three main types of Pfeiffer syndrome: type I is the mildest and most common; type II is the most severe, with neurological problems and a cloverleaf deformity; and type III is similar to type II, but without the cloverleaf deformity. In people with Pfeiffer syndrome, the thumbs and first (big) toes are wide and bend away from the other digits (pollex varus and hallux varus). Unusually short fingers and toes (brachydactyly) are also common, and there may be some webbing or fusion between the digits (syndactyly).

Pfeiffer syndrome is strongly associated with mutations of the fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) on chromosome 8 or the fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2) gene on chromosome 10. These genes code for fibroblast growth factor receptors, which are important for normal bone development. Advanced paternal age is thought to be a risk factor for sporadic cases of Pfeiffer syndrome due to an increase in mutations in sperm as men become older.

The most widely accepted clinical classification of Pfeiffer syndrome was published by M. Michael Cohen in 1993. Cohen divided the syndrome into three possibly overlapping types, all of which are characterized by broad thumbs, broad great toes, brachydactyly and possibly syndactyly: In severe cases, respiratory and neurological complications often lead to early death.

The syndrome is named after German geneticist Rudolf Arthur Pfeiffer (1931–2012). In 1964, Pfeiffer described eight individuals in three generations of a family who had abnormalities of the head, hands and feet (acrocephalosyndactylia) that were inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern.

In 1996, a son was born to American musician Prince and his wife Mayte Garcia. The highly anticipated child, Amiir ("prince" in Arabic), was diagnosed at birth with Pfeiffer syndrome type 2 and died several days later. In 1997, after Garcia's former personal assistants raised concerns about the manner of death, the medical examiner performed an investigation and declared that the death was due to natural causes (meaning it was not a homicide). In 2014, the mother of a boy in Texas with Pfeiffer syndrome type 1 posted a photograph of the child to her blog. In 2016, she discovered that the photograph had been used in a meme comparing her son to a pug. Her efforts to remove the meme from the Internet, especially social media such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, attracted international attention.