What is cri du chat syndrome

In many documented cases, children with Cri du Chat have lived well into middle age and beyond. However, people who have Cri du Chat are not always able to live independently . Many adults with the condition will need supportive health, social, case management, and vocational services.11 May 2020

Cri-du-Chat syndrome, or “cat-cry syndrome,” is due to a large deletion of the terminal short arm of chromosome 5. Therefore, the disorder is also called the 5p-syndrome. Characteristic clinical manifestations of this syndrome are cat-like high-pitched cries, psychomotor retardation, microcephaly and hypertelorism .

Babies with cri du chat syndrome often have low birth weight and may have trouble feeding and breathing. Some have heart defects that require surgery. As children and adults, people with this condition may have significant intellectual, development and speech delay.

The clinical symptoms of cri du chat syndrome usually include a high-pitched cat-like cry, mental disablity, delayed development, distinctive facial features, small head size (microcephaly), widely-spaced eyes (hypertelorism), low birth weight and weak muscle tone (hypotonia) in infancy.

Most fatal complications occur before the child’s first birthday. Children with cri-du-chat who reach age 1 generally will have a normal life expectancy . But the child will most likely have lifelong physical or developmental complications. These complications will depend on the severity of the syndrome.