Blastopathies and Microcephaly in a Chornobyl Impacted Region of Ukraine
bs_bs_banner doi:10.1111/cga.12051 Congenital Anomalies 2014; 54, 125–149 125 INVITED REVIEW ARTICLE Blastopathies and microcephaly in a Chornobyl impacted region of Ukraine Wladimir Wertelecki1,2, Lyubov Yevtushok2,3, Natalia Zymak-Zakutnia2,4, Bin Wang5, Zoriana Sosyniuk2,3, Serhiy Lapchenko2, and Holly H. Hobart6 1Department of Medical Genetics, College of Medicine, and 5Department of Mathematics and Statisitcs, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama, USA; 2OMNI-Net for Children International Charitable Fund, 3Rivne Regional Medical Diagnostic Center, Rivne, Rivne Province, 4Khmelnytsky Perinatal Center, Khmelnytsky, Khmelnytsky Province, Ukraine; and 6Cyto-Genetics Laboratory, Department of Pathology, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi, USA ABSTRACT This population-based descriptive epidemiol- genital malformations (CM) in the Rivne province of Ukraine ogy study demonstrates that rates of conjoined twins, teratomas, during the 2000–2009 decade. Although two concurrent identi- neural tube defects, microcephaly, and microphthalmia in the cal CM population-based surveillance programs are ongoing in Rivne province of Ukraine are among the highest in Europe. The Khmelnytsky and Volyn provinces, which adjoin Rivne, this report province is 200 km distant from the Chornobyl site and its is focused on observations in the latter province. The term northern half, a region known as Polissia, is significantly pol- “blastopathies” appears in the title of this report to stress that the luted by ionizing radiation. The rates of neural tube defects, CM reported are present prior to the embryonic implantation and microcephaly and microphthalmia in Polissia are statistically organogenesis, a notion elaborated upon later. To our knowledge, significantly higher than in the rest of the province.
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