Dicentric chromosome 9 due to tandem duplication of the 9p11-q13 region: unusual chromosome 9 variant.

We report on a 31-year-old mentally retarded woman with minor facial anomalies and a heteromorphic chromosome 9 with tandem duplication of the 9p11-q13 pericentromeric region. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of tandem duplication of this region. An identical chromosome 9 morphology was found in the healthy and phenotypically normal sister of the proposita. The usefulness of double-color FISH techniques and the presumed mechanism accounting for the origin of the chromosomal anomaly and for the phenotypic discordance observed between the two sisters are discussed.