External Ear Malformations: Epidemiology, Genetics, and Natural History

Abstract

This book, ninth in the Birth Defects Series published by The National Foundation-March of Dimes, is an excellent, thorough, and up-to-date review of external ear malformations, a birth defect with an overall incidence of 1%. The book is divided into two halves. In the first, the authors present a critical review of world literature on the epidemiology and etiology of this congenital defect. The introductory chapter on the intricate normal and abnormal morphogenesis of the branchial region is well illustrated, the constantly amazing fact being that 99% of human ears develop so perfectly. The excellence and strength of this book emerge in the second half, with the detailed analyses of the 600 children with external ear malformations in a seven-year prospective study of 56,000 pregnancies in the National Collaborative Perinatal Project (14 hospitals, 12 universities, 1959 to 1965) under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health. Many interesting