1 Greenwood Genetic Center, Greenwood, SC 29646
In Reply.
Families such as the one reported by Hennekam and Hofstee provide the initial evidence that congenital anomalies produced through vascular pathogenesis may have a heritable basis. This evidence conflicts with the prevailing view that vascular pathogenesis implies environmental causation and, hence, a negligible recurrence risk.
Exclusive claim to any pathogenetic mechanism producing human anomalies must not be assigned to any etiology, heritable or environmental, at this point in our understanding of human development.