ORIGIN, TREATMENT AND PREVENTION OF PATAU SYNDROME

Abstract

Patau's syndrome is a serious, rare genetic disorder caused by having an additional copy of chromosome 13 in some or all of the body's cells. It's also called trisomy 13.Each cell normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, which carry the genes you inherit from your parents. But a baby with Patau's syndrome has 3 copies of chromosome 13, instead of 2.This severely disrupts normal development and, in many cases, results in miscarriage, stillbirth or the baby dying shortly after birth.Babies with Patau's syndrome grow slowly in the womb and have a low birth weight, along with a number of other serious medical problems.Patau's syndrome affects about 1 in every 4,000 births. The risk of having a baby with the syndrome increases with the mother's age. More than 9 out of 10 children born with Patau's syndrome die during the first year.