Cognitive Profile of a Baby Girl Suffering From Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (AgCC) (original) (raw)

Background: Agenesis of the corpus callosum (AgCC) encompasses a broad range of diagnoses. A synthesis of recent neonatal and prenatal imaging studies suggests that AgCC occurs in at least 1:4000 live births and. 3-5% of individuals assessed for neuro developmental disorders had AgCC. Complete and partial AgCC, probably, result from disruption of the early stages of callosal development which could have genetic, infectious, vascular or toxic causes. All the patients show poor cognitive function and social interaction. Aim: To present cognitive profile of a patient with AgCC. Case: Five years old baby girl attended the Child Development Centre of a Government Hospital in New Delhi with the chief complaints of delayed development and poor social skills. Tools: Developmental Profile II Alpern [1], Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) Schopler [2], and Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale (VABS) Sparrow [3]. Results and discussion: DA = 2 years 5 months, DQ = 46; CARS score =32. A child with autism is characterized by poor social interactions. At times, it may be difficult to differentiate AgCC from autism. Therefore, a very careful history, mental status examination, radio imaging and psychological evaluation are warranted. Indeed, developmental profile of such children remains below normal. Biological functions are often supported by multiple structures-single physical feature is coded for by multiple genes, for example, so that knocking out any single gene can't prevent that feature from developing apparently normally. The ability of multiple different structures to support a single function is 'degeneracy'. It is a "ubiquitous biological property, a feature of complexity" and an inevitable outcome of natural selection. It explains both why unusual brain conditions are not as catastrophic as they might be, and also why scientists find the brain so confounding to try and understand.