Signs and Symptoms
Approximately five to ten-percent of children with Edward's Syndrome survive beyond their first year of life. Edwards’s Syndrome causes problems related to nervous system abnormalities and muscle tone that affect the development of the infant’s motor skills, which might result in scoliosis and crossed eyes, also known as esotropia. These symptoms cannot be fixed by surgical intervention due to the child’s cardiac health.
Infants with Edwards’s syndrome can experience constipation caused by poor abdominal muscle tone. This causes discomfort, disease and feeding issues. Special milk formulas, anti-gas medications, laxatives, stool softeners, as well as suppositories are potential treatments as recommended by doctors.
Children with Trisomy 18 have severe developmental delays, although with early therapy and special education they may reach some developmental milestones. Children with Edwards Syndrome also have an increased risk for the development of a ‘Wilms’ tumor, which is a form of kidney cancer. It is recommended that children with this disorder have routine ultrasounds of their abdomen so as to catch the cancer as soon as possible.
Some other symptoms of Trisomy 18 include: seizures, club foot, facial clefts, spina bifida (deformity of the spine), pneumonia, ear, sinus and eye infections, clenched fists, Hydrocephalus (accumulations of fluid in the brain), small head and jaw, urinary tract infections, elevated blood pressure, apnea episodes, holes in the lungs or heart and other heart diseases.
Most children with Trisomy 18, don’t live past their first birthday, however a few people have lived to see their 3oth birthday; usually females but not many. The ones that do live to be adults never get to be completely independent due to the developmental delays caused by the disorder.
Infants with Edwards’s syndrome can experience constipation caused by poor abdominal muscle tone. This causes discomfort, disease and feeding issues. Special milk formulas, anti-gas medications, laxatives, stool softeners, as well as suppositories are potential treatments as recommended by doctors.
Children with Trisomy 18 have severe developmental delays, although with early therapy and special education they may reach some developmental milestones. Children with Edwards Syndrome also have an increased risk for the development of a ‘Wilms’ tumor, which is a form of kidney cancer. It is recommended that children with this disorder have routine ultrasounds of their abdomen so as to catch the cancer as soon as possible.
Some other symptoms of Trisomy 18 include: seizures, club foot, facial clefts, spina bifida (deformity of the spine), pneumonia, ear, sinus and eye infections, clenched fists, Hydrocephalus (accumulations of fluid in the brain), small head and jaw, urinary tract infections, elevated blood pressure, apnea episodes, holes in the lungs or heart and other heart diseases.
Most children with Trisomy 18, don’t live past their first birthday, however a few people have lived to see their 3oth birthday; usually females but not many. The ones that do live to be adults never get to be completely independent due to the developmental delays caused by the disorder.