MICROCEPHALY

condition of abnormal smallness of the head. Microcephalic individuals are usually severely retarded both mentally and developmentally. Primary microcephaly results when the brain itself is abnormally small (microencephaly), so that there is no stimulus for the vault to grow. It also occurs when all the cranial sutures fuse prematurely, precluding brain growth. Irradiation of the abdomen in pregnant women or maternal (and via the placenta, fetal) infection with German measles or toxoplasmosis during the first three months of pregnancy may sometimes produce a microcephalic child. Microcephaly of greater or lesser degree also accompanies various genetic syndromes such as Hurler's syndrome and some chromosomal disorders.