Nebraska Medicine has created the first clinic in our area that is focused on adult patients who have Osteogenesis Imperfecta or OI.
The genetic disease can vary in severity.
Clinical Geneticist Dr. Eric Rush says, "Osteogenesis Imperfecta is one of the brittle bone disorders. It's caused usually by a defect in type 1 collagen and leaves the bones brittle and more prone to fracture."
The parents of Cindy Assmann of Omaha found out she had OI when she was born. During birth she broke ten ribs. The x-ray revealed her condition.
She says she has lost track of the fractures. "We know by the time I started kindergarten that I had broken about 50 but we lost count over the years, it's literally in the hundreds."
Dr. Rush says patients like Assmann often see a lull in fractures in early adulthood but then they start happening again. Yet most doctors specialize in children.
A partnership between Nebraska Medicine and Children's Hospital and Medical Center is allowing doctors to start seeing OI patients over 18 at the Nebraska Medicine Midtown Clinic. Doctors are expected to see dozens of people from all over the country in the clinic's first year.
You can learn more about OI, through the OI Foundation.
