Carbonic anhydrase II deficiency syndrome: recessive osteopetrosis with renal tubular acidosis and cerebral calcification.

Four new Saudi Arabian cases of the carbonic anhydrase II deficiency syndrome from two families are described. This autosomal recessive syndrome includes osteopetrosis with renal tubular acidosis and cerebral calcification. Additional features are mental retardation, growth failure, typical facial appearance, and abnormal teeth. Two patients showed evidence of restrictive lung disease, a finding not previously described. One of the patients reported represents the first neonate reported to be affected with this syndrome. Intrauterine growth was normal, but metabolic acidosis was already evident in the neonatal period. Radiographic evidence of osteopetrosis was probably absent at birth but appeared during the late neonatal period. Carbonic anhydrase II deficiency was demonstrated in erythrocyte hemolysates from the older two siblings of this neonate, and a 50% normal level of carbonic anhydrase II was demonstrated in the erythrocyte hemolysate from their father.