Congenital Anomalies in the Teratological Collection of Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. III: Primary Field Defects, Sequences, and Other Complex Anomalies Roelof-Jan Oostra, 1 * Bob Baljet, 1 Ben W.J.M. Verbeeten, 2 and Raoul C.M. Hennekam 3 1 Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 2 Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 3 Department of Pediatrics and Institute for Human Genetics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands The Museum Vrolik collection of the Depart- ment of Anatomy and Embryology of the Academic Medical Center, University of Am- sterdam, founded by Gerardus Vrolik (1775– 1859) and his son Willem Vrolik (1801–1863), consists of more than 5,000 specimens of hu- man and animal anatomy, embryology, pa- thology, and congenital anomalies. Re- cently, the collection of congenital anoma- lies, comprising 360 specimens, was recatalogued and redescribed according to contemporary morphogenetic views. The original descriptions, if preserved, were compared with the clinical, radiographical, and magnetic resonance imaging findings. In 120 specimens the following midline anomalies, primary field defects, and se- quences were diagnosed: holoprosen- cephaly sequence; aprosencephaly/ atelencephaly; cleft lip; Pierre Robin se- quence; omphalocele; diaphragmatic hernia; ectopic heart; bladder exstrophy; cloacal exstrophy; caudal dysgenesis; prune belly sequence; sirenomelia; fetal akinesia sequence; and disruption sequences. Po- lytopic field defects and associations were diagnosed in 25 specimens. We discuss the opinions of Gerardus and Willem Vrolik, who tried to find reasonable explanations for the dysmorphogenetic entities they in- vestigated, rather than accepting the tradi- tional superstitions. Am. J. Med. Genet. 80:46–59, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc. KEY WORDS: amniotic band sequence; anatomical collection; apros- encephaly; atelencephaly; bladder exstrophy; caudal dysgenesis; cleft lip; cloacal exstrophy; diaphragmatic hernia; disruption sequence; ectopic heart; fetal akinesia sequence; Hanhart anomaly; holoprosencephaly se- quence; holoprosencephaly associated with polydactyly; multiple midline anomalies; omphalocele; Pierre Robin sequence; polytopic field de- fect; prune belly sequence; si- renomelia; Vrolik INTRODUCTION The anatomical collection of the University of Am- sterdam was founded by two professors of anatomy, Gerardus Vrolik (1775–1859) and his son Willem Vro- lik (1801–1863) and comprises at present more than 5,000 specimens of human and animal anatomy, em- bryology, pathology, and congenital anomalies [Baljet and Oostra, 1998]. The collection was named Museum Vrolik and became largely extended over the years by subsequent acquisition of other collections. Recently, we recatalogued 360 human specimens with congenital anomalies of Museum Vrolik [Baljet and Oostra, 1998]. All specimens were reinvestigated and the diagnoses verified according to modern mor- phological perspectives. The specimens with malforma- tion syndromes and with skeletal dysplasias were de- scribed in previous papers [Oostra et al., 1994, 1997, 1998a–c]. Here we report on specimens with nonsyn- dromal conditions, i.e., midline anomalies, primary (po- lytopic) field defects, sequences, and associations. *Correspondence to: Dr. R.J. Oostra, Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Academic Medical Center, University of Am- sterdam, Meibergdreef 15, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Nether- lands: E-mail: R.J. Oostra@amc.uva.nl Received 27 March 1998; Accepted 22 June 1998 American Journal of Medical Genetics 80:46–59 (1998) © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.