Syndromes, disorders and maternal risk factors associated with neural tube defects (V).

Fetuses with neural tube defects (NTDs) may suffer from associated syndromes and disorders. This article provides a comprehensive review of the syndromes and disorders associated with NTDs, including Pallister-Hall syndrome, Walker-Warburg syndrome and Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy, MURCS association, Roberts syndrome, cerebro-costo-mandibular syndrome, laterality sequences, hydrolethalus syndrome, Knobloch syndrome, oculoauriculovertebral spectrum (hemifacial microsomia), cervico-oculo-acoustic syndrome, Fanconi anemia, Miller-Dieker lissencephaly syndrome, Fraser syndrome, frontonasal dysplasia, Adams-Oliver syndrome, CHILD syndrome, dyssegmental dysplasia, and monozygotic twinning. NTDs associated with these syndromes and disorders are a rare but important cause of NTDs. The risk of NTDs in subsequent fetuses and the preventive effect of maternal folic acid intake in NTDs associated with syndromes and disorders may be different from those of nonsyndromic multifactorial NTDs. Perinatal diagnosis of NTDs should alert doctors to the syndromes and disorders associated with NTDs, and prompt thorough etiologic investigation and genetic counseling.