osteogenesis+imperfecta_O'Connell

I am researching osteogenisis imperfecta"""'''""""""""""""""""""""" Quick Info: **Osteogenesis Imperfecta**: Most common cases are autosomal dominant. There are several types of this disorder but most common are autosomal dominant. Actually, there are apparently at least 8 different recognized forms.
 * New York Yankees are boss.**

I am Jack O'Connell and I am a medical blogger and this February and March, I will be blogging about Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as "brittle bones disease".
 * Osteogenesis Imperfecta**

__February 21, 2012__ Osteogenesis Imperfecta is a disease where the affected person has very weak or fragile bones, otherwise known as brittle bones. I will refer to it as **OI**. There are several different cases that are most common, type 1, type 2, type 3, and type 4. Type 1 is the most common of OI. Type 2 is known to doctors to be very, very severe and can possibly lead to death within first year of life. OI is a congenital disease which means it is present at birth. Interestingly enough, person who has OI has only a 50% chance to pass it on to their children. Depending on the amount of children an affected person has, I would think that the percent would be higher, maybe at about 65-75%. OI is an autosomal disease meaning if you have a copy of the disease, you will have the disease.

__ February 26, 2012 __ OI can have varying symptoms that can be very severe or can just be there, harmless. I have found out that **OI** can cause its patients to have a blue tint to the whites of their eyes. It would kind of look like their eyes are almost completely light blue except for the pupils. As you can see in this person, they have a severe case of blue tinted eyes meaning that the whites of their eyes are very blue. Another obvious symptom would be early onset deafness. The patients would begin to lose their hearing at a young age and might not lose it all but they may lose a moajority of their hearing. A really obvious symptom would be the bowed legs and arms of the patients. I learned that this means that the patient's arms and legs bend at abnormal places or they curve at abnormal places like their shin. Also, the patients bones break very easily and cause the bones to weaken even more. Once more, the **OI** patients can have a painful case of scoliosis, or a S-curved back or hunchback.

__March 2, 2012__ Today is March 2nd, as you can see. It is my final blog on osteogenesis imperfecta. I have been doing a lot of in-depth research and have learned some more intersting facts. I have learned that ,unfortunately, there is no cure to this disorder. There is, in fact, several different special therapies that can help in reducing the pain that **OI** can give to the people that have it. Bisphosphonates are a drug that increases bone strength and density. It also has been proven to reduce bone pain and bone fracture rate in many **OI** patients. Some more useful info I found is that some patients have had surgery to insert metal rods in the leg bones for more severe cases. Some patients have been known to use bracing to support their bones. **OI** can result in short stature or short height. Some cases have been found to lead to complications such as heart failure, deafness, respiratory problems, problems with brain stem and spinal cord, and also permanent deformity in bones. It is a pretty scary disease once you really look into it with all its complications and symptoms.





**Content Links** **[|www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed] search osteogenesis imperfecta on site**


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