Congenital Horner's Syndrome

Don’t it make my blue eyes brown: heterochromia and other abnormalities of the iris

“…They considered that disruption of the postganglionic pathway could lead to a neurotropic dysgenesis of iris melanocytes. 26 In a further study of 23 children presenting with Horner's syndrome in the first year of life, 78% were found to have iris heterochromia. 27 Although less common, it would appear that cases of acquired Horner's syndrome in childhood and adult life may occasionally also give rise to iris heterochromia.…”

“…Clinically, the association of congenital Horner's syndrome and iris de-pigmentation, producing heterochromia, is wellrecognised. Weinstein et al 26 found iris heterochromia in 9 of 11 patients with congenital Horner's syndrome and in all cases the site of the lesion was considered to be due to disruption of the postganglionic neurone. In one of the remaining patients, both irides were very light blue, making the diagnosis of heterochromia impossible.…”

Incidence of pediatric Horner syndrome and the risk of neuroblastoma: A population-based study

“…In this study, birth trauma, including forceps delivery, was a common cause of congenital Horner syndrome (63.6%), which has been reported in prior studies. 4,5,12,13 Brachial plexus injury was recorded in 2 (10%) of the 20 study cases. Sauer and Levingohn 14 found one case of brachial plexus injury among 7 cases (14.3%), and Jeffery et al 4 recorded 3 cases in 73 (4.1%).…”

“…causes of pediatric Horner syndrome include surgical intervention, 4,5,9 trauma, 3,4 neoplasm, 4,6 infection, 10 and vascular malformations. 6 Idiopathic cases, whether congenital or acquired, are of special interest as they are currently believed to have the highest likelihood of a potentially fatal underlying pathology.…”

“…3 These recommendations are based on an evolution of thinking from published studies, all of which were conducted in large medical referral centers. [3][4][5][11][12][13][14] The purpose of this study is to report the incidence, birth prevalence, and risk of occult neoplasia among a cohort of patients younger than 19 years with diagnosed Horner syndrome in Olmsted County, Minnesota, during a 40-year period.…”