The affected infant tends to be short, with a disproportionately large head. The fetal head of infants born with<unk>  are hyperextended while the foramen magnum is enlarged and opens through the widened pedicles. The defective neural arches directly into the upper cervical reach of the spinal canal, causing the formation of a common cavity between most of the spinal cord and the brain. The skin of the anterior chest is connected directly to the face, bypassing the formation of a neck, while the scalp is directly connected to the skin of the back. Because of this, those born with this anomaly either have a highly shortened neck or no neck at all. This causes extreme retroflexion, or backward bending, of the head in a "star-gazing" fashion. The spine is severely distorted as well along with significant shortening due to marked lordosis. The vertebrae, especially cervical, are fused together in abnormal shapes and their numbers are reduced. The spinal cord is almost always defective while the ventricular system is often dilated and the cortex is thinned. Sometimes, in the case of<unk>  apertus, an encephalocele (sac-like protrusions of the brain through an opening in the cranium) forms. Additional symptoms Additional symptoms include:
Iniencephaly
Klippel–Feil syndrome
Brachyphalangy
Microhydranencephaly
Oxycephaly
Hemihydranencephaly
Anencephaly
Hydranencephaly