Long-term outcome of a cohort of Italian patients affected with alpha-Mannosidosis

Abstract

Alpha-mannosidosis (MIM #248500) is an ultra-rare autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease with multi-system involvement and a wide phenotypic spectrum. Information on long-term outcomes remains poor. We present the long-term outcomes (median, 19 years) of nine patients with alpha-mannosidosis, three females and six males, followed at a single center. The findings of the nine patients were collected from medical records and reported as mean ± SD or median, and range. The age of onset of the first symptoms ranged from 0-1 to 10 years. The diagnostic delay ranged from 2 to 22 years (median= 11 years). Coarse face, hearing, heart valves, joints, gait, language, dysarthria, psychiatric symptoms, I.Q., MRI, walking disabilities, orthopedic disturbances and surgeries showed a slow worsening over the decades. Our patients showed a slowly worsening progressive outcome over the decades. Psychiatric symptoms were present in 100% of our population and improved with the appropriate pharmacological intervention. This aspect requires attention when following up on these patients. Our description of the long-term evolution of alpha-mannosidosis patients may provide basic knowledge for understanding the effects of specific treatments.

Fig. 1

Progression of walking disabilities over the decades of age in each patient.

Fig. 2

Disease progression indicated as the percentage of patients showing the signs or symptoms over the decades.