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Informative Speech On Klippel-Fel Syndrome

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Today I will be discussing Klippel-Feil Syndrome. I will discuss how the disorder is passed on, what genes it affects, and what it does to the body. I will then present information to be passed on to family members that may have the disorder or carry the gene to pass on to their children. Klippel-Feil Syndrome is the genetic anomaly I chose because I honestly did not know much about it. My mother was born with numerous severe and mostly rare birth defects. Many of them have a genetic aspect, so when my sisters and I had children we had to visit a genetic specialist. Klippel-Feil Syndrome is a rare disorder, first reported in 1912 by Maurice Klippel and Andre Feil (The Facts, n.d.). It primarily presents as fusion between at least two bones of the cervical spine, the part of the spine in the neck. Symptoms are typically a shortened neck, limited mobility of the head and neck, and lower hairline on the posterior side. However, there are different classes of the disorder and not all of these are present in each class. It is a congenital disorder, so affected people are always born with it, but it can go unnoticed until later in life. One case study reports a four year old girl presenting with recurring neck pain, and it was then discovered she had Klippel-Feil (Buonuomo et al., 2014). Klippel-Feil also can present with numerous other issues, such as scoliosis, spina bifida occulta, Sprengel’s deformity, absent …show more content…

However, I see now that it is a rare disorder. Due to the rarity, finding more information about Klippel-Feil and the Sprengel’s deformity that can go along with it is not an easy task. As I mentioned, common symptoms are a shortened neck, problems moving the neck, a hairline that comes down further than is typical onto the neck, and a raised shoulder blade. A wonderful resource I found to help educate people is the National Organization for Rare Disorders, as well as the KFS

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