Transient abdominal telangiectasia of the newborn

Transient abdominal telangiectasia of the newborn: Four new cases with abdominal distension

Transient abdominal telangiectasia of the newborn (TATN) is a recently described entity. The majority of cases had no specific clinical context or trigger identified, but a minority occurred in the clinical context of transient increased intraabdominal pressure. We report four additional cases of TATN, all in the presence of transient abdominal distension, further supporting the causative relationship of abdominal distension to TATN.

[Update on nevi and nevoid skin disorders]

Autosomal dominant transmission with sex-limited manifestation represents a previously unrecognized mode of inheritance. The white lentiginosis of Grosshans exclusively occurs in females, whereas male gene carriers remain clinically unaffected but can transmit the underlying mutation to their offspring. There are some other examples: Hereditary bilateral lymphedema of the CELSR1 type that only occurs in females, too. Unlike common sebaceous nevus (HRAS or KRAS mutations), cerebriform sebaceous nevus is caused by a postzygotic lethal FGFR2 mutation. Cutis marmorata telangiectatica congenita and reticular capillary nevus have previously been considered one single entity. Today, their dichotomy is proven at the molecular level. It is important to be aware of the new port-wine nevus of the AKT3 type because this anomaly may constitute a cutaneous marker of severe congenital brain defects. The newly described transient abdominal telangiectasia in newborns can easily be mistaken as a capillary nevus, but represents an innocuous neonatal phenomenon that spontaneously fades away within the first three months.