Aymé-Gripp syndrome is classically defined as the triad of bilateral early cataracts, sensorineural hearing loss, and characteristic facial features in combination with neurodevelopmental abnormalities. The facial features are often described as "Down syndrome-like" and include brachycephaly, flat facial appearance, short nose, long philtrum, narrow mouth, and low-set and posteriorly rotated ears. Hearing loss is often congenital. Other features may include postnatal short stature, seizure disorder, nonspecific brain abnormalities on head imaging, skeletal abnormalities, and joint limitations. A subset of individuals have been found to have pericarditis or pericardial effusion during the neonatal or infantile period. All affected individuals have had developmental delay, but the degree of cognitive impairment is extremely variable. Other features including gastrointestinal and endocrine abnormalities, ectodermal dysplasia (i.e., nail dystrophy and mammary gland hypoplasia), dental anomalies, and chronic glomerulopathy with proteinuria have been reported in rare affected individuals.

Primary basilar impression of the skull is a developmental defect of the cranium in which there is invagination of the foramen magnum upward into the posterior cranial fossa. Basilar impression is often associated with other malformations of the notochord and craniovertebral junction, such as occipitalization of the atlas, Klippel-Feil anomaly (see 118100), Chiari type I malformation (118420), and syringomyelia (186700) (Paradis and Sax, 1972; Bhangoo and Crockard, 1999). Secondary basilar impression occurs as a result of generalized skeletal diseases, including hyperparathyroidism (see 145000), Paget disease (see 167250), and osteogenesis imperfecta (see, e.g., 166200). Platybasia refers to a skull base with an abnormally obtuse angle between the planes of the clivus and the anterior fossa. Platybasia may occur in basilar impression, but it is not of medical significance on its own (Bhangoo and Crockard, 1999). Historically, basilar impression was defined radiologically by numerous parameters, including the lines defined by Chamberlain (1939), McGregor (1948), and Fischgold and Metzger (1952), and the angle defined by Bull et al. (1955).

Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome is a congenital malformation syndrome characterized by pre- and postnatal growth deficiency, developmental disability of variable degree, characteristic craniofacial features ('Greek warrior helmet' appearance of the nose, high forehead, prominent glabella, hypertelorism, high-arched eyebrows, protruding eyes, epicanthal folds, short philtrum, distinct mouth with downturned corners, and micrognathia), and a seizure disorder (Battaglia et al., 2008).