The Turner Syndrome is a chromosomal disorder where one of the two X-chromosomes, normally present in women, is (partially or completely) missing or has an abnormal structure.
One in every 2.500 girls and women is affected and it causes the following problems:
- Delayed growth, resulting in a shorter adult height (143 - 145 cm);
- Absence of pubertal development and infertility, due to insufficient functioning of the ovaries;
- In some cases congenital heart and kidney malformations;
- Some external physical characteristics such as a short broad neck, oedema in hands and feet, low implanted ears, numerous pigmented naevi (brown spots) can also be observed;
- Possible difficulties in certain other areas: f.ex. executing complex actions (clumsiness), mathematics (calculating) and tasks requiring spatial insight (driving the car, map reading, etc).