Congenital myotonic dystrophy: report of paternal transmission

A female neonate born to a healthy mother was hospitalized because of enlargement of the lateral ventricles, muscle weakness, irregular respiration, and poor sucking. Characteristic facial appearance such as high forehead and carp mouth were noted. The father had mild manifestations of adult type myotonic dystrophy, including muscle weakness of the extremities, percussion myotonia and atrophy of the facial muscles. PCR analysis and southern blot analysis revealed that CTG repeats in the myotonic dystrophy gene of the infant and the father were about 1000 and 400, respectively. This is a rare case showing paternally transmitted congenital myotonic dystrophy and seems to be the first report describing a neonate.