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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffThere's no cure for progeria. Regular monitoring for cardiovascular disease may help with managing your child's condition. Some children undergo coronary artery bypass surgery or dilation of cardiac arteries (angioplasty) to slow the progression of cardiovascular disease.
Certain therapies may ease some of the signs and symptoms. They include:
- Low-dose aspirin. A daily dose may help prevent heart attacks and stroke.
- Physical and occupational therapy. These may help with joint stiffness and hip problems, and may allow your child to remain active.
- High-calorie dietary supplements. Including extra calories in your child's daily diet may help prevent weight loss and ensure adequate nutrition.
- Feeding tube. Infants who feed poorly may benefit from a feeding tube and a syringe. You can use the syringe to push pumped breast milk or formula through the tube to make it easier for your child to feed.
- Extraction of primary teeth. Your child's permanent teeth may start coming in before his or her baby teeth fall out. Extraction may help prevent problems associated with the delayed loss of baby teeth, including overcrowding and developing a second row of teeth when permanent teeth come in.
Drugs known as farnesyltransferase inhibitors (FTIs), which were developed for treating cancer, have shown promise in laboratory studies in correcting the cell defects that cause progeria. FTIs are currently being studied in human clinical trials for treatment of progeria.
- Learning about progeria. National Genome Research Institute. http://www.genome.gov/11007255. Accessed March 5, 2009.
- Progeria. National Institutes of Health. http://www.nih.gov/about/researchresultsforthepublic/Progeria.pdf. Accessed March 5, 2009.
- Progeria (Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome). The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec19/ch286/ch286d.html. Accessed March 5, 2009.
- Brown TW. Progeria. In: Kliegman RM, et al. Kliegman: Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Saunders Elsevier; 2007. http://www.mdconsult.com/book/player/book.do?method=display&type=bookPage&decorator=header&eid=4-u1.0-B978-1-4160-2450-7..50092-X&uniq=124224571&isbn=978-1-4160-2450-7&sid=812951456. Accessed March 5, 2009.
- Brown TW. Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. National Institutes of Health: Gene Reviews. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bookshelf/br.fcgi?book=gene&part=hgps. Accessed March 5, 2009.
- Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome. Genetics Home Reference. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition=hutchinsongilfordprogeriasyndrome. Accessed March 5, 2009.
- Anti-cancer drug prevents, reverses cardiovascular damage in mouse model of premature aging disorder. National Institutes of Health. http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2008/nhgri-06.htm. Accessed March 5, 2009.
- Martini R. Helping children cope with chronic illness. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Accessed March 5, 2009.
