Aplasia Cutis Congenita of the Scalp with Bone Defect and Exposed Sagittal Sinus in Trisomy 13 Newborn - a Case Report

Background: Aplasia cutis congenita is a heterogeneous disorders group with a rare reported incident of 0.5 to 1 in 10,000 births. ACC can be associated with physical defects or syndrome that may help in diagnosis, prognosis and further evaluation of the patient. Trisomy 13 is one of the most common fetal life limiting diagnosis which is associated with ACC of membranous type scalp.

Objective: In this article, we report cases of aplasia cutis congenita of the scalp with dura and bone defect and exposed sagittal sinus in newborn diagnosed to have trisomy 13. It emphasizes the importance of ACC associated syndrome which is having high mortality prior to surgical intervention.

Case presentation: The patient was born at 35 weeks of gestation. Her physical examination revealed a newborn girl with dysmorphic facial features including widely separated eyes, downward slanting of the palpebral fissure, microphthalmia, retrognathia, and low seat ears. She had area of loss of scalp skin and skull bone with seen brain tissue and sagittal sinus were exposed that was measure 6 by 5 cm in size. Additionally, she had a clenched fist and overlapping fingers and rocker bottom feet. Laboratory investigations include basic labs and the TORCH screen was negative. On the 9th day of life, a chromosomal analysis showed a female karyotype with three copies of chromosome number 13 in all 20 metaphase cells counts.

Conclusion: The patient was managed conservatively. However, a multidisciplinary team agreed on do not resuscitate with no further surgical intervention as survival rate of trisomy 13 is poor.