ORPHA:2589
Myoclonus-cerebellar ataxia-deafness syndrome
Also known as: Myoclonus-cerebellar ataxia-hearing loss syndrome
Clinical definition (Orphanet)
A rare genetic developmental defect during embryogenesis characterized by childhood/early adulthood-onset sensorineural hearing loss (which may be bilateral), adolescence-onset myoclonus, provoked by light and bright colors and cerebellar (manifests as gait instability, and intention tremor). Generalized tonic-clonic may also be present. There have been no further descriptions in the literature since 1984.
How rare: <1 / 1 000 000 — fewer than one in a million. In a city the size of Kolkata, that might mean on the order of fifteen people.
Is anyone studying this?
70
70 papers have ever been published on this condition (under this name). For scale, breast cancer has over 700,000. Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=183) is 38.
70 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 38 (publications denominator n=183).
58 in the last 10 years · high confidence · 58.7th percentile (publications denominator)
Is a treatment being tested?
5
trials for this specific condition
5 interventional trials matched this specific condition name; 1 currently recruiting in our sample.
Data as of 26 July 2026
5 interventional trials — more than 59.2% of diseases in the trials denominator have none at all (151 of 255; this disease is at the 82.7th percentile).
high confidence · 82.7th percentile (trials denominator)
Do we know what causes it?
Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.
No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.
Who's working on it?
418
Distinct author names in 70 sampled papers — named people below.
Who's working on it?
People publishing on this condition (sampled Europe PMC records). Affiliation is the most recent found in that sample.
- 01Dale RC5 papers · 2022
From the Neuroimmunology Group (R.C.D., F.B.), Children's Hospital at Westmead, University of Sydney, Australia; Boston Children's Hospital (L.V.D., M.P.G.), MA; the Division of Rheumatology (M.T., S.M.B.), The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada; Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (A.T.W., S.N., B.B.), University of Pennsylvania; Paediatric Neurology and Rheumatology (E.M., A.S.), Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (K.D., M.T.), Hôpitaux Universitaires Paris-Sud, National Referral Center for Neuro-Inflammatory Diseases in Children, Pediatric Neurology Department and Université Paris-Sud, Inserm U1012, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France; Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (E.A., A.K.), Australia; Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust (M.R.E., C.H.), London; UCL Institute of Child Health (D.E., P.A.B.), London; Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Infection and Global Health (R.K.), University of Liverpool, UK; Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (G.A.), University of Pittsburgh, PA; Hacettepe University Child Neurology (B.A.), Turkey; Birmingham Children's Hospital (E.W.); John Radcliffe Hospital (K.H.), Oxford, UK; Neurosciences Unit and Mater Medical Research Institute (C.J.R.), Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, University of Queensland, Australia; Alberta Children's Hospital (S.M.B.), Calgary, University of Calgary, Canada; and Evelina Children's Hospital (M.L.), London, UK. russell.dale@health.nsw.gov.au.
Papers in Europe PMC - 02Lim M3 papers · 2024
From the Neuroimmunology Group (R.C.D., F.B.), Children's Hospital at Westmead, University of Sydney, Australia; Boston Children's Hospital (L.V.D., M.P.G.), MA; the Division of Rheumatology (M.T., S.M.B.), The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada; Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (A.T.W., S.N., B.B.), University of Pennsylvania; Paediatric Neurology and Rheumatology (E.M., A.S.), Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (K.D., M.T.), Hôpitaux Universitaires Paris-Sud, National Referral Center for Neuro-Inflammatory Diseases in Children, Pediatric Neurology Department and Université Paris-Sud, Inserm U1012, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France; Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (E.A., A.K.), Australia; Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust (M.R.E., C.H.), London; UCL Institute of Child Health (D.E., P.A.B.), London; Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Infection and Global Health (R.K.), University of Liverpool, UK; Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (G.A.), University of Pittsburgh, PA; Hacettepe University Child Neurology (B.A.), Turkey; Birmingham Children's Hospital (E.W.); John Radcliffe Hospital (K.H.), Oxford, UK; Neurosciences Unit and Mater Medical Research Institute (C.J.R.), Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, University of Queensland, Australia; Alberta Children's Hospital (S.M.B.), Calgary, University of Calgary, Canada; and Evelina Children's Hospital (M.L.), London, UK.
Papers in Europe PMC - 03Naranjo A3 papers · 2023
Department of Biostatistics, Children's Oncology Group Statistics and Data Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Papers in Europe PMC - 04Panzer JA3 papers · 2023
Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
Papers in Europe PMC - 05Yang L3 papers · 2024
Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Seattle, WA 98122, USA.
Papers in Europe PMC - 06Anlar B2 papers · 2022
From the Neuroimmunology Group (R.C.D., F.B.), Children's Hospital at Westmead, University of Sydney, Australia; Boston Children's Hospital (L.V.D., M.P.G.), MA; the Division of Rheumatology (M.T., S.M.B.), The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada; Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (A.T.W., S.N., B.B.), University of Pennsylvania; Paediatric Neurology and Rheumatology (E.M., A.S.), Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (K.D., M.T.), Hôpitaux Universitaires Paris-Sud, National Referral Center for Neuro-Inflammatory Diseases in Children, Pediatric Neurology Department and Université Paris-Sud, Inserm U1012, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France; Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (E.A., A.K.), Australia; Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust (M.R.E., C.H.), London; UCL Institute of Child Health (D.E., P.A.B.), London; Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Infection and Global Health (R.K.), University of Liverpool, UK; Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (G.A.), University of Pittsburgh, PA; Hacettepe University Child Neurology (B.A.), Turkey; Birmingham Children's Hospital (E.W.); John Radcliffe Hospital (K.H.), Oxford, UK; Neurosciences Unit and Mater Medical Research Institute (C.J.R.), Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, University of Queensland, Australia; Alberta Children's Hospital (S.M.B.), Calgary, University of Calgary, Canada; and Evelina Children's Hospital (M.L.), London, UK.
Papers in Europe PMC - 07Bandodkar S2 papers · 2022
Department of Biochemistry, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Papers in Europe PMC - 08Brilot F2 papers · 2016
From the Neuroimmunology Group (R.C.D., F.B.), Children's Hospital at Westmead, University of Sydney, Australia; Boston Children's Hospital (L.V.D., M.P.G.), MA; the Division of Rheumatology (M.T., S.M.B.), The Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada; Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (A.T.W., S.N., B.B.), University of Pennsylvania; Paediatric Neurology and Rheumatology (E.M., A.S.), Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston; Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris (K.D., M.T.), Hôpitaux Universitaires Paris-Sud, National Referral Center for Neuro-Inflammatory Diseases in Children, Pediatric Neurology Department and Université Paris-Sud, Inserm U1012, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France; Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne (E.A., A.K.), Australia; Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust (M.R.E., C.H.), London; UCL Institute of Child Health (D.E., P.A.B.), London; Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Infection and Global Health (R.K.), University of Liverpool, UK; Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (G.A.), University of Pittsburgh, PA; Hacettepe University Child Neurology (B.A.), Turkey; Birmingham Children's Hospital (E.W.); John Radcliffe Hospital (K.H.), Oxford, UK; Neurosciences Unit and Mater Medical Research Institute (C.J.R.), Mater Children's Hospital, South Brisbane, University of Queensland, Australia; Alberta Children's Hospital (S.M.B.), Calgary, University of Calgary, Canada; and Evelina Children's Hospital (M.L.), London, UK.
Papers in Europe PMC - 09
- 10de Alarcon PA2 papers · 2023
Department of Pediatrics, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, Peoria IL.
Papers in Europe PMC
Recruiting interventional trials
Trials testing a treatment from the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set
5 interventional trials matched after quoted-phrase search and title/condition post-filter.
Observational and natural-history studies
4 observational studies match this condition. These do not test a treatment and are not counted in the interventional-trial headline, but they are genuine research: natural-history work often defines the endpoints needed for a future rare-disease trial, and families may be able to enroll.
Recruiting or not-yet-recruiting
General rare disease registries you may be eligible for
These studies enroll across many rare conditions. They are not counted as evidence that anyone is studying this specific disease.
Where to find support
We do not yet link condition-specific patient organisations. These umbrella groups support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families:
India — NPRD
Last verified 2026-07-26This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.
Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.
How we counted this
Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored below but are not added to the query string.
"Myoclonus-cerebellar ataxia-deafness syndrome" OR "Myoclonus-cerebellar ataxia-hearing loss syndrome"
MeSH descriptor terms unioned into the query: Myoclonus, Cerebellar Ataxia, and Deafness
ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):
"Myoclonus-cerebellar ataxia-deafness syndrome" OR "Myoclonus-cerebellar ataxia-hearing loss syndrome" OR "Myoclonus, Cerebellar Ataxia, and Deafness" OR "hereditary ataxia"
Interventional trials matched via: phrase (mesh = registered under a MeSH descriptor no name phrase would catch; recall-expansion = gene / selected parent terms used only for trials).
Study-type breakdown: 5 interventional · 4 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.
Cross-references (from Mondo): MESH:C563549 OMIM:159800 UMLS:C1834579
Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase, mesh, recall-expansion; with hits: phrase, recall-expansion
Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov
Confidence reasoning
- Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
- No synonyms dropped by stoplist
- No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus