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We report on two patients with de novo subtelomeric terminal deletion of chromosome 6p. Patient 1 is an 8-month-old female born with normal growth parameters, typical facial features of 6pter deletion, bilateral corectopia, and protruding tongue. She has severe developmental delay, profound bilateral neurosensory deafness, poor visual contact, and hypsarrhythmia since the age of 6 months. Patient 2 is a 5-year-old male born with normal growth parameters and unilateral hip dysplasia; he has a characteristic facial phenotype, bilateral embryotoxon, and moderate mental retardation. Further characterization of the deletion, using high-resolution array comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH; Agilent Human Genome kit 244 K), revealed that Patient 1 has a 8.1 Mb 6pter-6p24.3 deletion associated with a contiguous 5.8 Mb 6p24.3-6p24.1 duplication and Patient 2 a 5.7 Mb 6pter-6p25.1 deletion partially overlapping with that of Patient 1. Complementary FISH and array analysis showed that the inv del dup(6) in Patient 1 originated de novo. Our results demonstrate that simple rearrangements are often more complex than defined by standard techniques. We also discuss genotype-phenotype correlations including previously reported cases of deletion 6p.

Objective: To further define the language profile of children with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS) and explore the influence of parental origin of the deletion on language. Study design: Children and adolescents with VCFS (n = 27) were group-matched for sex, age, and IQ with 27 children and adolescents with idiopathic developmental delay. Fifty-four typically developing control subjects were also included in the analyses investigating word association abilities. Results: Children with VCFS had significantly lower receptive than expressive language skills, a unique finding when compared with IQ-matched control subjects. However, no significant differences in word association were detected. Children with a deletion of paternal origin score significantly higher on receptive language when compared with children with a deletion of maternal origin. Conclusions: The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-III results suggest that children with VCFS show more severe deficits in receptive than expressive language abilities. Language skills of children with VCFS could be influenced by parental origin of the deletion and thus related to neuroanatomic alterations at the deletion site. (J Pediatr 2002;140:753-8)