Treatment
At present there is no cure for OI. Treatment is aimed at increasing overall bone strength to prevent fracture and maintain mobility.
There have been many clinical trials performed with Fosamax (Alendronate), a drug used to treat those experiencing brittleness of bones due to osteoporosis. Higher levels of effectiveness apparently are to be seen in the pill form versus the IV form, but results seem inconclusive. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not approve Fosamax as a treatment for OI because long term effects of the drug have not been fully researched yet, although it is often used in preteens, instead of Pamidronate.
Although there is no known cure for OI, regular weight-bearing exercise, a diet rich in calcium and vitamin D, a healthy lifestyle, and, in some cases, vitamin supplements will help off-set early development of osteoporosis, prevent future fractures, and delay other health concerns related to OI.
Bone infections are treated as and when they occur with the appropriate antibiotics and antiseptics.
Read more about this topic: Osteogenesis Imperfecta
Famous quotes containing the word treatment:
“The treatment of African and African American culture in our education was no different from their treatment in Tarzan movies.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Judge Ginsburg’s selection should be a model—chosen on merit and not ideology, despite some naysaying, with little advance publicity. Her treatment could begin to overturn a terrible precedent: that is, that the most terrifying sentence among the accomplished in America has become, “Honey—the White House is on the phone.””
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“Ambivalence reaches the level of schizophrenia in our treatment of violence among the young. Parents do not encourage violence, but neither do they take up arms against the industries which encourage it. Parents hide their eyes from the books and comics, slasher films, videos and lyrics which form the texture of an adolescent culture. While all successful societies have inhibited instinct, ours encourages it. Or at least we profess ourselves powerless to interfere with it.”
—C. John Sommerville (20th century)