[Prenatal genetic analysis of a fetus with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome and Edward syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To screen for genomic copy number variants (CNVs) in a fetus with cardiac abnormalities and intrauterine growth retardation through single nucleotide polymorphism microarray (SNP array) and karyotyping analysis.

METHODS: The fetus and its parents were subjected to conventional G banding and SNP-array analysis. The results were confirmed with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

RESULTS: G-banding analysis showed that the fetus has a karyotype of 47,XX,+mar. The father has a karyotype of 46,XY,t(4;18) (p15.2q11.2), while the mother showed a normal karyotype. SNP-array detected two microduplications at 18p11.32q11.2 (20.5 Mb) and 4p16.3p15.2 (24.7 Mb) in the fetus. The supernumerary marker chromosome carried by the fetus has derived from the balanced translocation carried by its father. The result was confirmed by FISH.

CONCLUSION: Based on the two microduplications, the fetus was diagnosed as Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome in conjunction with Edward syndrome. Verification of the origin of the supernumerary marker chromosome by SNP-array has provided a basis for prenatal genetic diagnosis.