45/XO Turner's Syndrome in the Newborn: Report of Two Cases

Abstract

A female infant with neck webbing developed heart failure and died at 8 days of age. Buccal smears were chromatin negative, autopsy revealed typical “streak” gonads and skin cultures showed a 45/XO chromosome pattern. The second infant had similar clinical features and died in heart failure at 3 days of age. Postmortem buccal smears and tissue sections were chromatin negative, and tissue cultures of the kidney showed a 45/XO chromosome pattern. The ovaries were slightly elongated and one was almost normal histologically while the other contained relatively few ova. Both cases had an aortic atresia, which has not been reported previously in Turner's syndrome.