THIEME Case Report 43

Iniencephaly: A Rare Anomaly

Shantanu B. Chavan1

1Department of Anatomy, R.C.S.M. Government Medical College, Address for correspondence Shantanu B. Chavan, MD (Anat), Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India E-18, Vardhaman Nagar Apartments, 6th Lane, Rajarampuri, Kolhapur 416008, Maharashtra (e-mail: [email protected]).

Natl J Clin Anat 2019;8:43–46

Abstract Following case report is an attempt to ascertain that the fetus obtained and evaluated presents with iniencephaly, which is one of the rare variants of neural tube defects. Most of the cases of iniencephaly are reported as isolated incidences. However, some researchers have reported its occurrence in cluster, in a short span of time in a specific population. This case report elaborates various gross anomalies in a fetus which differentiates it from other neural tube defects. The study was performed by Keywords examining the external features as well as the radiograph of the abortus. The study ►►neural tube defects also elaborates in brief the different versions of neural tube anomalies which are ►► sometimes concomitantly observed in the same fetus. Prenatal or postnatal diagnoses ►►cervical of iniencephaly with or without associated anomalies are suggestive of chromosomal ►►prenatal diagnosis abnormalities and in such cases cytogenetic investigations are highly recommended.

Introduction the first fetal malformation diagnosed prenatally by Camp- bellet al, using transabdominal ultrasound.3 However, Congenital malformation (CMF) is a physical, metabolic, or ­iniencephaly (“inion” means the nape of the neck) was first anatomical defect which is apparent before birth, at birth, or reported by Saint-Hilaire in 1836.4 1 detected during the first year of life. CMF is among the most The incidence rate of iniencephaly ranges from 0.1 distressing diseases that affect mankind and some of them to 10 in 10,000 in general population all over and has are more bizarre and unique than others. Periodic reporting been found most often in female fetuses.5 Whereas, in of rare variants of congenital anomalies in a given geographic India, the incidence has been reported to be 1 per 65,000 location and in a specific community might help the clinicians deliveries.6 Iniencephaly is almost always associated with improve their diagnosis and avoid forthcoming catastrophes. numerous other anomalies such as anencephaly, encepha- Improved knowledge of the unexpected fetal losses will locele, meningomyelocele, , Dandy–Walker lead to better couples counseling and this will eventually malformation, hydronephrosis, polycystic kidneys, cardiac help prevent recurrences. Early diagnosis of life-threatening defects, caudal regression syndrome, , etc.7 And CMFs can also pave the way for surgical correction in certain because of this, it often goes unnoticed or unreported in anomalies (by doing fetal surgery). Also, it might help prevent many cases giving a false impression of its incidence rate in further congenital anomalies in subsequent conceptions. general population. Besides, in an academic institute, such research and feedback Extreme forms of NTDs (such as anencephaly, encephalo- will be useful in maintaining higher standards of teaching cele, cervical rachischisis, and iniencephaly) are incompatible and clinical practice. with life. Among these, iniencephaly is a very rare NTD which Even though the conventional methods of antepartum is characterized by the triad of retroflexion of the head, ultrasonography and biochemical analysis might suffice cervical , and an defect.8 to ­diagnose the anomalies, they are surely not enough to completely elaborate the structural anomalies. The definition Case Report of neural tube defects (NTDs) includes variety of defects, such as anencephaly, cranial rachischisis, iniencephaly, meningocele, The following study was conducted in the Department of meningomyelocele, and .2 Anence-phaly was Anatomy, R.C.S.M. Government Medical College, Kolhapur,

DOI https://doi.org/ ©2019 Society of Clinical 10.1055/s-0039-1688530 Anatomists ISSN 2277-4025. eISSN 2321-2780. 44 Iniencephaly: A Remarkable Anomaly Chavan

Maharashtra, India. A stillborn fetus was obtained from However, there was no overt rachischisis of the thoracic the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The or cervical spine externally. The skin over the rest of the patient had poor antenatal care and almost no follow-up spinal column showed no signs of abnormality on external or prenatal investigations. Because antenatal findings on examination. The neck was almost completely absent and ultrasonography were found to be incompatible with life, skin below the mandible was continuous with that of the the patient was counseled for termination of pregnancy. chest. There was no abnormality of appendicular skeleton The pregnancy was medically terminated citing severe in general. Both anterior abdominal wall and thoracic wall anomalies. A brief maternal history regarding any dis- were intact and showed no abnormalities externally. All ease, intake of drugs, socioeconomic status, paternal these findings were partly consistent with NTDs of cranial consanguinity, etc., was collected. But these factors were end, mostly suggestive of iniencephaly. found to be insignificant and futile in the present study. Examination of the radiograph (anteroposterior view) The fetus was clinically evaluated by external exam- of the abortus showed the following defects: ination as well as by radiography. All the findings were The squamous part of the occipital bone was nearly documented and photographed. completely absent resulting in an enlarged foramen The external examination of the fetus revealed the magnum. The parietal, frontal bones were not seen and the following: temporal bones were partially formed. There was partial The foot length and crown rump length of the fetus absence of cervical and thoracic vertebrae with no fusion under study was 5.5 and 15.5 cm, respectively. of those present. This was accompanied by incomplete The gestational age of the aborted fetus was estimated as closure of the vertebral arches and their bodies. There was 20 weeks approximately. The placenta and umbilical cord significant shortening of the spinal column in the cervical were found but showed no gross anomalies. On examining region due to hyperextension of the malformed cervi- the fetus properly, the cranial vault, cerebral hemispheres, cothoracic spine (►Fig. 4). The ribs in the upper thoracic and diencephalic structures were absent. Facial structures region were partly formed and not fused, whereas those and orbits were present but poorly developed. Orbits in the lower region were absent. The growth in the rest of showed large protruding eyes (►Fig. 1) and pinnae were the skeletal system was appropriate to the age and did not poorly developed. There was prominent retroflexion of show any significant defects. the head which has been described as “star gaze posture” Since prenatal investigations were not available for (►Fig. 2) in the literature. The skin over the parietal and evaluation, the above-mentioned findings could not be occipital region and over the nape of the neck was poorly corroborated with that of the antenatal studies. developed and appeared dark and shriveled (►Fig. 3).

Fig. 1 Front view of the abortus showing retroflexion of the head and Fig. 2 The lateral view of the abortus showing poorly developed short neck. The skin below the mandible is continuous with the chest. flat bones of the skull and “star gaze” posture of the head. Note: Encephalocele is absent.

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Fig. 3 Posterior view of the abortus showing dark shriveled skin over Fig. 4 Radiograph of the abortus (anteroposterior [AP] view) showing the occipital region. Caudal end of the spine does not show any obvious poorly formed occipital bones, prominent cervicothoracic rachischisis, defects. and large open .

Discussion as poor socioeconomic conditions, teratogenic effects of drugs (especially antibiotics and antiepileptic drugs), and NTDs are common CMFs resulting from complete or partial lack of folic acid supplementation have been implicated.13 failure of the neural tube to close during the phase of Genetic factors mostly associated with iniencephaly development.9 NTDs can be classified as open type, if neural include chromosomal abnormalities such as trisomy 13, tube is exposed or covered only by membrane, and closed trisomy 18, or .14 Most of iniencephalic type, if the defect is closed by the skin. However, the closed babies are stillborn or die soon after birth. types are rarely seen. Some of the variants of NTDs are concomitantly seen in The prevalence of NTD varies greatly from region to region the same fetus. Based on these facts, iniencephaly has been in the same country and in populations of different countries. classified into two groups, namely, iniencephaly apertus when The highest incidence of NTD has been reported from Ireland it is associated with encephalocele and iniencephaly clausus and Wales (6.38–10.92 per 1,000 births).10 The prevalence of when it is not associated with encephalocele.15 Iniencephaly NTD from different parts of India has been reported to vary apertus should be differentiated from anencephaly with from 0.5 to 11 per 1,000 births.11 retroflexion of the spine. Iniencephaly clausus should be Iniencephaly is one of the types of NTDs which presents differentiated from Klippel–Fiel syndrome (KFS) and cervical with characteristic features which include a short or absent meningomyelocele.14 Although fusion of neck with extreme retroflexion of the head, occipital bone and malformation may be present in both, retroflexion of the deficit with enlarged foramen magnum, and malformed head is not seen in KFS and is classically seen in the cases cervicothoracic vertebrae (i.e., craniospinal rachischisis).12 It of iniencephaly. It is important to differentiate these two is a developmental error occurring in early pregnancy prior conditions because KFS is not lethal and can be surgically to closure of cephalic end of the neural tube at 24 days of corrected. Other entities that can be listed in differential gestational age. The defective neural arches reach directly into diagnosis are teratoma, lymphangioma, and Jarcho–Levin the cervical part of the spinal canal, causing the formation of syndrome. This condition can cause obstructed labor because a common cavity between most of the and the of retroflexion of the fetal head in advanced gestational weeks . The spine is severely distorted and it is significantly and can also recur in subsequent pregnancies.16 shortened due to marked lordosis. The fetus in our case had most of the above-mentioned Even though both genetic and environmental factors features. It had no swelling in the cervical region and so have been implicated; however, the exact etiology of this our case can be classified as iniencephaly clausus. Besides condition remains unresolved. Environmental factors such these, no other signs of other NTDs were seen in the

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abortus. Iniencephaly may be associated with other external Financial Support deformities like and clubfeet, but no such None. defects were seen in the present study. Conflict of Interest Prenatal diagnosis can be performed by various methods None declared. of which ultrasonography remains the investigation of choice in the 1st trimester. However, magnetic resonance imaging provides a reliable tool to evaluate the fetus and outline References the characteristics of fetal disorders in utero, thus allowing 1 Kapoor K, Singh K, Sharma A, Singh B, Huria A, Kochhar S. proper classification of the NTD. Detailed study of the Congenital anomalies in north western Indian population - a scan of the fetus can reveal associated systemic anomalies. fetal autopsy study. Eur J Anat 2013;17(3):166–175 Assessment of serum biochemical markers for NTD such as 2 Cotter AM, Daly SF. Neural tube defects: is a decreasing α-fetoprotein levels in the maternal blood remains the gold prevalence associated with a decrease in severity? Eur J Obstet standard for diagnosis, as it is for other types of NTDs. Gynecol Reprod Biol 2005;119(2):161–163 3 Campbell S, Johnstone FD, Holt EM, May P. Anencephaly: After the diagnosis of such rare variants of NTDs in the early ultrasonic diagnosis and active management. Lancet prenatal period, it is advisable that the physicians should 1972;2(7789):1226–1227 obtain detailed information of any other disorder detected 4 Saint-Hilaire IG. Iniencephalus. In: Bailliere JB, ed. Histoire des in the family. There is a risk of recurrence of iniencephaly, Anomalies de l’Organisation. 1836;2:308–210 especially among families with a history of NTD. Proper 5 Pungavkar SA, Sainani NI, Karnik AS, et al. Antenatal diagnosis of iniencephaly: sonographic and MR correlation: a case counseling of the couple with the help of a geneticist and report. Korean J Radiol 2007;8(4):351–355 psychologist is recommended. The expectant parents should 6 Jayant K, Mehta A, Sanghvi LD. A study of congenital be cautioned regarding anticipated complications. malformations in Mumbai. J Obs Gynae India 1961;11:280–294 7 Woodward PJ, Kennedy A, Sohaey R, Byrne J, Oh K, Puchalski M. Iniencephaly. Diagnostic Imaging: Obstetrics. 3rd ed. Salt Conclusions Lake City, UT: Amirsys; 2005:242–243 8 Sepulveda W. Three-dimensional sonography of fetal Although not a novel work, the above-mentioned case has iniencephaly. J Ultrasound Med 2012;31(8):1296–1298 been reported for its rarity and uniqueness, as it has rarely 9 Sadler TW. Central . In: Langman's Medical been reported from this region. Most of our findings are Embryology. 11th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & consistent with the available literature on the NTDs and Wilkins; 2009:302–316 iniencephaly. Most of the NTDs are diagnosed by ultrasound 10 Suwanwela C. Geographical distribution of fronto-ethmoidal examination and biochemical analysis, but fetal autopsy encephalomeningocele. Br J Prev Soc Med 1972;26(3):193–198 11 Kulkarni ML, Mathew MA, Reddy V. The range of neural tube remains a neglected method of studying major CMFs in defects in southern India. Arch Dis Child 1989;64(2):201–204 unviable fetuses, which usually reveals other structural 12 Mórocz I, Szeifert GT, Molnár P, Tóth Z, Csécsei K, Papp Z. anomalies. Failure to recognize iniencephaly in many cases Prenatal diagnosis and pathoanatomy of iniencephaly. Clin explains the low incidence of reporting. And this error Genet 1986;30(2):81–86 can be corrected by regular reporting of major anomalies. 13 Semi T, Mehmet U, Oya P, Husamettin U, Cem C, Firat E. Surveillance and monitoring of congenital anomalies is Iniencephaly: prenatal diagnosis with post-mortem findings. J Obs Gynae 2007;33:566–569 important for reporting patterns of CMF. Termination in 14 Chen CP. Prenatal diagnosis of iniencephaly. Taiwan J Obstet early pregnancy should be recommended to patients with Gynecol 2007;46(3):199–208 iniencephaly fetus. Establishment of effective preventive 15 Lewis HF. Iniencephalus. Am J Obstet Dis Women Child measures by identifying major anomalies will reduce the 1897;35(1):11–52 socioeconomic burden of the patients to a great extent. 16 Bluett D. Iniencephaly causing obstructed labour. Proc R Soc Med 1968;61(12):1281–1282

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