Developmental and epileptic encephalopathy-5 (DEE5) is a neurologic disorder characterized by global developmental delay and the onset of tonic seizures or infantile spasms in the first months of life. The seizures tend to be refractory to treatment, and EEG shows hypsarrhythmia, consistent with a clinical diagnosis of West syndrome. Affected individuals have severely impaired psychomotor development with lack of visual attention, poor head control, feeding difficulties, microcephaly, and spastic quadriplegia. Brain imaging may show cerebral atrophy and hypomyelination (summary by Saitsu et al., 2010). For a general phenotypic description and a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of developmental and epileptic encephalopathy, see 308350.

Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 8 is an autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severe psychomotor retardation, abnormal movements, hypotonia, spasticity, and variable visual defects. Brain MRI shows pontocerebellar hypoplasia, decreased cerebral white matter, and a thin corpus callosum (summary by Mochida et al., 2012). For a general phenotypic description and a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of PCH, see PCH1 (607596).

Primary microcephaly-10 (MCPH10) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by extremely small head size (-9 SD) at birth and death usually by 1 year of age. Neuropathologic examination shows severe loss of neurons as well as neuronal loss of polarity and abnormal dendritic maturation (summary by Yang et al., 2012). For a general phenotypic description and a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of primary microcephaly, see MCPH1 (251200).

Shashi-Pena syndrome is a neurodevelopmental syndrome characterized by delayed psychomotor development, variable intellectual disability, hypotonia, facial dysmorphism, and some unusual features, including enlarged head circumference, glabellar nevus flammeus, and deep palmar creases. Some patients may also have atrial septal defect, episodic hypoglycemia, changes in bone mineral density, and/or seizures (summary by Shashi et al., 2016).

Developmental and epileptic encephalopathy-91 (DEE91) is characterized by delayed psychomotor development apparent in infancy and resulting in severely to profoundly impaired intellectual development with poor or absent speech. Most patients never achieve independent walking. Patients typically have onset of refractory multifocal seizures between the first weeks and years of life, and some may show developmental regression. Additional features, such as hypotonia and cortical visual impairment, are more variable (summary by Myers et al., 2017). For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of DEE, see 308350.

El-Hattab-Alkuraya syndrome is characterized by microcephaly (often early onset and progressive); severe-to-profound developmental delay; refractory and early-onset seizures; spastic quadriplegia with axial hypotonia; and growth deficiency with poor weight gain and short stature. Characteristic findings on brain imaging include cerebral atrophy that is disproportionately most prominent in the frontal lobes; ex vacuo ventricular dilatation with notable posterior horn predominance; brain stem volume loss with flattening of the belly of the pons; and symmetric under-opercularization. Neurologic involvement is progressive, with significant morbidity and mortality.

Periventricular nodular heterotopia-8 (PVNH8) is a neurologic disorder characterized by abnormal neuronal migration during brain development, resulting in delayed psychomotor development. Three patients have been reported (Ge et al., 2016). For a phenotypic description and a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of periventricular heterotopia, see PVNH1 (300049).