Osteogenesis Imperfecta Essay

Osteogenesis Imperfecta in Children Every week in the popular medical drama, “Grey’s Anatomy,” written by Shonda Rhimes, there is some sort of interesting case of a rare condition that makes for good television. For Doctor April Kepner and Doctor Jackson Avery that is finding out they are expecting a baby who is diagnosed with Type II osteogenesis imperfecta. They were told that their baby was suffering from this disease even from inside the womb. Osteogenesis imperfecta, or “brittle bones disease,” is a rare disease affecting nearly 1 in every 30,000 live births in the United States. This paper is being written in hopes of answering 3 questions: What is osteogenesis imperfecta? What is the developmental impact of OI? And what is it that causes birth defects such as OI and other diseases?
What is Osteogenesis imperfecta? Osteogenesis imperfecta, also …show more content…
Osteogenesis imperfecta is not commonly inherited from family even though that is possible. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “Most infants with more severe forms of osteogenesis imperfecta (such as type II and type III) have no history of the condition in their family.” OI is caused by some defective genes that affect the body’s ability to form strong bones.
Ninety percent of the cases are caused by a dominant genetic defect, which means that the child only needs one copy for the mutated gene to have osteogenesis imperfecta. Only 10 or 15 percent of cases are because of a recessive gene. The child in this case has a 25 percent chance of contracting OI rather than the greater chance with the dominant gene. In Conclusion, children with osteogenesis imperfecta are champions as they grow up and fight their genetic disorder. This disorder affects the child, their family, and the way they live their life every day. There is no cure currently, but every day there are treatments and products created to help with living with osteogenesis