Phoenix Children’s Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) Clinic is focused on preventing fractures, treating bone deformities and providing customized care for each patient. Hear from their expert team about how they offer care and guidance to OI families from the earliest moments of life and continue as they grow.
Children with osteogenesis imperfecta, or OI for short, can present with easily broken bones, discoloration of the white of the eye, or bone deformities such as bowing of the legs. Parents of children with OI often notice frequent broken bones or bowed limbs. In some cases, parents learn their child has OI even before birth. The severity of OI can vary. It can be mild, causing a few fractures during a person's lifetime or more severe. In severe cases, OI can be life-threatening. Most pediatricians and obstetricians are aware that osteogenesis imperfecta is caused by defective genes. However, if you have a patient with this condition, finding an OI expert to refer them to maybe be challenging. At Phoenix Children's, our OI clinic is the only one of its kind in the Southwest. We diagnose and treat children with OI and specialize in even the most, Most complex cases. We're unique in that we're the only multidisciplinary clinic with specialists trained in OI and metabolic bone disease. We were each trained by national leaders in OI so your patients benefit from nationally renowned experts right here at Phoenix Children's. As a geneticist, I assist in making the initial diagnosis and interpreting test results for patients with classic OI or for those whose diagnosis is unclear. My role is especially important in undiagnosed or complex bone disease cases. Often OI is inherited from parents who may not know that they are carriers. At Phoenix Children's, we provide comprehensive care for the entire family by performing a family risk evaluation. I completed my fellowship at Nomos where I specialized in OI. During my career, I performed more than 400 OI related surgeries. Now at Phoenix Children's parents and kids get the benefit of that depth of experience. If a child requires surgery, we can perform an osteotomy on both legs, which includes cutting the bone, aligning it, and placing a telescoping rod when possible to support the bone. These surgeries help prevent repeated fractures of the long bones in the arms and legs, and help these bones heal correctly. We can also operate on multiple bones in one surgery. So there's less recovery time. One of our most important benefits of our multidisciplinary clinic is that we are all in the clinic on the same day and see the same patients. We perform DEXA scans, X-rays of the spine, upper and lower extremities, pulmonary function testing, and eye exams. Patients undergo hearing testing, are evaluated by physical and occupational therapy, and are seen by the OI specialists in clinic. We meet with each patient and family to provide individualized treatment options at Phoenix Children's, our team is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our patients with OI please contact us to learn more or to make a referral.
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