Otofacial syndrome
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Otofacial syndrome
 |
This article is an orphan, as few or no other articles link to it. Please introduce links to this page from related articles; suggestions may be available. (February 2009) |
Otofacial syndrome is an extremely rare congenital deformity whereby the afflicted is born without a jaw and subsequently a chin.
In nearly all cases, the child does not survive because of the inability to breathe and eat properly. Even with reconstructive surgery, the tongue is extremely underdeveloped, making unaided breathing and swallowing impossible.
Treatment
The first challenge to survival is assisted breathing and tubal feeding. This is a lifelong affair, generally requiring the patient to spend nearly all of the time under direct hospital care.
American surgeons successfully used bone from the hip of an Irish teenager named Alan Doherty to rebuild a jaw and chin. Surgeons began the procedures in June 2007 and completed the final of seven surgeries on 25 August 2008. Doherty is now able to smile, but is still unable to breathe, eat, or speak on his own.[1][2]
References
- ^ "Surgeons give teenager a new chin". BBC News. 2008-12-19. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7791706.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
- ^ "A New Face for Teenager Born Without Jaw". Fox News. 2008-08-27. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,411482,00.html. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
|
||||||||||||||||
 |
This disease article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Otofacial syndrome.
Read more