Marfan Syndrome
Marfan Syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects the human connective tissue, whose role is to hold all the body’s cells, organs and tissue together and as a result help the body grow normally.
Since connective tissue can be found throughout the human body, Marfan syndrome can affect many different parts of the body and have various expressions ranging from mild to severe. The most serious complications that usually lead to early death involve defects of the heart valves and vessels. Features of the disorder can also be found at the lungs, bones, joints and eyes. However, no cases have been reported of Marfan syndrome to affect intelligence.
Unfortunately, so far there is no cure for Marfan syndrome. By addressing each issue as it arises and with preventative medication life expectancy has increased significantly over the last few decades and is now similar to that of the average person.
Marfan syndrome is a dominantly inherited condition. This means a child with an affected parent has a 50% chance of getting the syndrome. The only way for parents carriers of the disease to avoid passing the gene to their children is to have assisted reproduction in combination with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for the syndrome.
Do you have a family history of Marfan Syndrome?
