Cockayne's syndrome: a case report. Literature review

Abstract

Cockayne s syndrome is a genetic disorder with a recessive autosomal inheritance, described first by Cockayne in 1936. Patients with this syndrome present failure to thrive, short stature, premature aging, neurological alterations, photosensitivity, delayed eruption of the primary teeth, congenitally absent of some permanent teeth, partial macrodontia, atrophy of the alveolar process and caries. It could be caused by two gene mutations, CNK1 (ERCC8) and ERCC6, located on the 5 and 10 chromosomes respectively, causing two variations of Cockayne s syndrome, CS-A, secondary to a ERCC8 mutation and CS-B with ERCC6 mutation, the last one causes hypersensitivity to the ultraviolet light secondary to a DNA repair defect. The syndrome is also associated with mutations of the XPB, XPD and XPG genes. In this report we present a 9 year and 4 month old patient. He had a height of 94 cm, weight of 8.6 Kg, head circumference of 42 cm. and blood pressure of 120/80. Cachectic habitus, kyphosis, microcephaly, oval face, sunken eyes, a thin and beaklike nose, lack of subcutaneous facial fat (especially in the middle of the face), and large ears give the patient a birdlike appearance. It is notorious the photosensitivity in all the sun-exposed skin. The patient also displays delayed psychomotor skills and mental retardation. In the oral cavity we found deficient hygiene, gingivitis, cervical caries, enamel hipoplasia, abnormal position of the upper and inferior lateral incisors, macrodontia of the upper central teeth, the left one presented a caries. In the x-ray we observed congenital absence of 14, 23 and 24 teeth and mandibular hipoplasia. The aim of this review is to show the dentistry community the characteristics of the Cockayne s syndrome by means of a clinical case.