Genetic condition - partial trisomy 18

[jrichards]

My friend's baby was just born with partial trisomy 18. Does anyone have any information on this that they could share with me? I'm beginning to look to look on the internet as well.

Thanks!

Jennifer

[slknight]

Jennifer,

Sorry to hear about your friend's baby.

Here are a few sites:

http://www.chromosome18.org/

http://www.trisomy.org/

http://members.optushome.com.au/karens/

[sueandwill]

Trisomy 18 refers to an extra 18th chromosome.
Normally we have 23 pairs of chromosomes - 2 of each from
#1 to 22 and a pair of sex chromosomes.

In its "full" or complete form, Trisomy 18 tends to be associated with severe physical malformations and developmental problems. There is a high rate of spontaneous loss in pregnancy and neonatal death.

The partial form - or Trisomy 18 mosaic - tends to be less severe.
Mosaic refers to the fact that some cells of the body contain the
extra chromosome 18 whereas others contain the normal number of chromosomes.

It is difficult to predict prognosis and long term outcome in these cases because it depends on how many and the type of tissues in the body have the mosaic cell line and how many have the normal chromosome complement.
Thus there is a wide variation in outcome and each child is a unique person.

For more medical information, I suggest the National Institute of Health site -- www.nih.gov.

slknight has posted a list of the support groups .

hope this helps your friend.

Sue

[jrichards]

Thanks all for the info!