[Embryofetopathy caused by postnatally detected maternal phenylketonuria].

A case of a now 10-month-old female infant is reported, who presented at birth with microcephalus, growth retardation, dystrophia, facial dysplasia and cardiac defect. Etiologically a classical phenylketonuria of the mother with very high levels of serum phenylalanine (51 and 41 mg/dl, respectively), which was not known until then, was diagnosed already after her confinement. The mother, aged 26, originates from Roumania. She had never been treated by any phenylalanine-limited diet. Psychological testing revealed a severely reduced intelligence (IQ = 63). The child, having normal levels of serum phenylalanine, presented with mild statomotor retardation at the age of ten months. Even in countries with a general neonatal screening program, a hitherto undiagnosed maternal phenylketonuria has to be considered within the differential diagnosis of a dystrophic microcephalic newborn, beside more common causes like the fetal alcohol syndrome.