Syndromes of Facial Clefting

Within the compass of these few pages, we can only limn an abbreviated presentation of the subject of syndromes of facial clefting-as it were an antipasto to whet the appetite of the reader for further reading. Those of you who wish to seek expanded versions of this subject are referred to Gorlin, Cervenka & Pruzansky (1971) or especially to the forthcoming second edition of the tract Syndromes of the Head and Neck by Gorlin, Pindborg &Cohen (1975). It is our modest hope that this presentation will aid the reader in several ways: (a) one must be cognizant that facial clefting is a component of over 100 syndromes, (6) many of these syndromes exhibit single gene inheritance and hence appropriate genetic counselling must be given, (c) conversely, parents should be apprised if clefting has only aleatory association with their child's disorder, and (d) we cannot but secretly hope that our efforts will serve a heuristic purpose in catalysing others to create and define new entities within the bag of genetic heterogeneity.