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Omphaloceles are congenital malformations with herniation of the abdominal viscera into the umbilical cord. The incidence in newborns is 1:4300, the sex ratio 1.24:1 in favour to boys. Children with this malformation are neither more frequent at the beginning nor at the end of the sibship; the average maternal age is not increased. In about 50% other different malformations are found. All those omphaloceles, which are found as an obligatory symptom in the EMG syndrome (Wiedemann-Beckwith syndrome) to be probably in most cases autosomal recessively inherited or which are seen within a chromosomal malformation syndrome are of etiologically known origin. Omphaloceles without other malformations are mainly sporadic, less frequent in sibs, possibly due to a polygenic or multifactorial mode of inheritance. Findings in population genetics and animal experiments suggest that exogenous factors, too, can be the cause of malformation syndromes with omphaloceles.

5 Male children exhibiting the typical features of the Prune-Belly syndrome (malformations of the urogenital tract, aplasia of abdominal muscles) are described. Two of these are deaf. This syndrome has also been observed in a few females. Final interpretation of the cause and pathogenesis cannot yet be given. In two siblings with defects of the abdominal muscles an contractures of the joints, but without renal anomalies, a new and hitherto undescribed hereditary syndrome seems to be present.

Improvement in treatment should reduce the mortality of infants with gastroschisis and omphalocele which is still high and is mainly due to septic complications. The mortality in infants who have additional severe malformations may be difficult to improve, and one should hesitate to treat such additional anomalies which are incompatible with life and which even when treated may cause permanent severe defects.