¦leshˈnīən- noun
also lesch-nyhan disease
Usage: usually capitalized L&N
Etymology: after Michael Lesch b 1939 American cardiologist and William L. Nyhan b 1926 American pediatrician
: a rare and usually fatal genetic disorder of male children that is inherited as an X-linked recessive trait and that is characterized by hyperuricemia, mental retardation, spasticity, compulsive biting of the lips and fingers, and a deficiency of an enzyme that conserves hypoxanthine in the body by limiting its conversion to uric acid