Cryptorchidism, or failure of testicular descent, is a common human congenital abnormality with a multifactorial etiology that likely reflects the involvement of endocrine, environmental, and hereditary factors. Cryptorchidism can result in infertility and increases risk for testicular tumors. Testicular descent from abdomen to scrotum occurs in 2 distinct phases: the transabdominal phase and the inguinoscrotal phase (summary by Gorlov et al., 2002).

Ophthalmo-acromelic syndrome is a condition that results in malformations of the eyes, hands, and feet. The features of this condition are present from birth. The eyes are often absent or severely underdeveloped (anophthalmia), or they may be abnormally small (microphthalmia). Usually both eyes are similarly affected in this condition, but if only one eye is small or missing, the other eye may have a defect such as a gap or split in its structures (coloboma).\n\nThe most common hand and foot malformation seen in ophthalmo-acromelic syndrome is missing fingers or toes (oligodactyly). Other frequent malformations include fingers or toes that are fused together (syndactyly) or extra fingers or toes (polydactyly). These skeletal malformations are often described as acromelic, meaning that they occur in the bones that are away from the center of the body. Additional skeletal abnormalities involving the long bones of the arms and legs or the spinal bones (vertebrae) can also occur. Affected individuals may have distinctive facial features, an opening in the lip (cleft lip) with or without an opening in the roof of the mouth (cleft palate), or intellectual disability.

A rare chromosomal anomaly, partial deletion of the long arm of chromosome X, with characteristics of a combination of clinical manifestations of X-linked myotubular myopathy and a 46,XY disorder of sex development. Patients present with a severe form of congenital myopathy and abnormal male genitalia.

Orofaciodigital syndrome V (OFD5) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by cleft palate/uvula, lobulated tongue, frontal bossing, hypertelorism, postaxial polydactyly, and impaired intellectual development (summary by Faily et al., 2017).

14q11.2 microdeletion syndrome is a recently described syndrome characterized by developmental delay, hypotonia and facial dysmorphism.

Silver-Russell syndrome-3 (SRS3) is characterized by intrauterine growth retardation with relative macrocephaly, followed by feeding difficulties and postnatal growth restriction. Dysmorphic facial features include triangular face, prominent forehead, and low-set ears. Other variable features include limb defects, genitourinary and cardiovascular anomalies, hearing impairment, and developmental delay (Begemann et al., 2015; Yamoto et al., 2017). For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of Silver-Russell syndrome, see SRS1 (180860).

Spondylo-ocular syndrome is a very rare association of spinal and ocular manifestations that is characterized by dense cataracts, and retinal detachment along with generalized osteoporosis and platyspondyly. Mild craniofacial dysphormism has been reported including short neck, large head and prominent eyebrows.

Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is characterized by a profound normochromic and usually macrocytic anemia with normal leukocytes and platelets, congenital malformations in up to 50%, and growth deficiency in 30% of affected individuals. The hematologic complications occur in 90% of affected individuals during the first year of life. The phenotypic spectrum ranges from a mild form (e.g., mild anemia or no anemia with only subtle erythroid abnormalities, physical malformations without anemia) to a severe form of fetal anemia resulting in nonimmune hydrops fetalis. DBA is associated with an increased risk for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and solid tumors including osteogenic sarcoma.

Witteveen-Kolk syndrome (WITKOS) is an autosomal dominant disorder with characteristic distinctive facial features, microcephaly, short stature, and mildly impaired intellectual development with delayed cognitive and motor development and subtle anomalies on MRI-brain imaging (summary by Balasubramanian et al., 2021).

Cardiac-urogenital syndrome is characterized by partial anomalous pulmonary venous return in association with tracheal anomalies, pulmonary hypoplasia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, thyroid fibrosis, thymic involution, cleft spleen, penoscrotal hypospadias, and cryptorchidism (Pinz et al., 2018).

Neurodevelopmental disorder with hypotonia, microcephaly, and seizures (NEDHYMS) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by global developmental delay with axial hypotonia, inability to sit or walk, and severely impaired intellectual development with absent language. Most patients develop early-onset intractable seizures that prevent normal development. Additional features include feeding difficulties with poor overall growth and microcephaly. Some patients may have spastic quadriplegia, poor eye contact due to cortical blindness, variable dysmorphic features, and nonspecific abnormalities on brain imaging (summary by Tan et al., 2020).