The Laurence-Moon-Biedl Syndrome

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is; (1) to record the histories and findings, with special reference to the family histories, of four patients in two families who are, in the opinion of the author, entitled to the diagnosis of "the Laurence-Moon-Biedl Syndrome"; (2) to point out that this syndrome is not a clear cut symptom complex,as was originally proposed by Solis-Cohen & Weiss (1), of the pentad of obesity, hypogenitalism, retinitis pigmentosa, mental retardation and polydactylism. It appears rather that this syndrome owes its distinction to the peculiar association of certain familially occurring defects in a variable number of body systems, most frequently the skeletal, endocrine and central nervous systems.