[State of the neuroendocrine system in children with congenital defects of development dependent on changes in the karyotype].

Forty children with multiple congenital developmental abnormalities (MCDA) without any visible changes in the karyotype and 36 MCDA children having visible changes in the karyotype were examined for the status of the neuroendocrine system. The children's age ranged from 10 days to 3 years. The children with MCDA manifested dysfunction of the neuroendocrine system, determined by the blood serum content of a number of hormones of the pituitary and the insular apparatus of the pancreas. The neuroendocrine dysfunction appeared to be in a reverse relationship to the intensity of the clinical signs (organic damage to the nervous system, delayed physical development, developmental abnormalities and minor developmental abnormalities). It manifested itself to the greatest degree in patients with numerical and structural chromosomal rearrangements and might be related to morphological or functional failure of the neuroendocrine system on the whole or of one of its components.