MedGen

Leukoencephalopathy with vanishing white matter-5 (VWM5) is a chronic and progressive autosomal recessive leukoencephalopathy characterized by neurologic deterioration usually beginning in late infancy or early childhood; however, juvenile- and adult-onset cases have been reported. Neurologic signs include cerebellar ataxia, spasticity, and relatively preserved mental abilities. The disease is chronic and progressive with, in most individuals, additional episodes of rapid deterioration following febrile infections or minor head trauma. Death occurs after a variable period of a few years to a few decades, usually following an episode of fever and coma. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy are diagnostic and show a diffuse abnormality of the cerebral white matter beginning in the presymptomatic stage, with increasing amounts of the abnormal white matter vanishing and being replaced by cerebrospinal fluid; autopsy confirms these findings (summary by Leegwater et al., 2001). Ovarian dysgenesis may be present in affected females (Fogli et al., 2003). For a discussion of genetic heterogeneity of VWM, see 603896. Cree Leukoencephalopathy An infantile leukoencephalopathy among the native Cree and Chippewayan indigenous population in Northern Quebec and Manitoba results from homozygosity for an arg195-to-his (R195H; 603945.0005) mutation in the EIF2B5 gene. These patients have disease onset between 3 and 9 months of age, with death in 100% by 21 months of age. [from OMIM]

A congenital malformation characterized by an overdistended segment of lung, affecting an party of a lobe or the entire one. It results in progressive overinflation of one or more lobes. [from HPO]

Barrett esophagus, or Barrett metaplasia, describes the phenotypic change of normal esophageal squamous epithelium to a columnar and intestinal-type epithelium. This metaplastic change is important because patients with Barrett esophagus have an increased risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. The main cause of Barrett metaplasia is gastroesophageal reflux (GER; 109350). The retrograde movement of acid and bile salts from the stomach into the esophagus in this disease causes prolonged injury to the esophageal epithelium and induces chronic esophagitis, which in turn is believed to trigger the pathologic changes (summary by Wong et al., 2005). [from OMIM]