Treatment of Patau syndrome focuses on the particular physical problems with which each child is born. Many infants have difficulty surviving the first few days or weeks due to severe neurological problems or complex heart defects. Surgery may be necessary to repair heart defects or cleft lip and cleft palate. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy will help individuals with Patau syndrome reach their full developmental potential. Surviving children are described as happy and parents report that they enrich their lives. Prognosis
Approximately 90% of infants with Patau syndrome die within the first year of life. Those children who do survive past 1 year of life are typically severely disabled with intellectual disability, seizures, and psychomotor issues. Children with the mosaic variation are usually affected to a lesser extent. In a retrospective Canadian study of 174 children with trisomy 13, median survival time was 12.5 days. One and ten year survival was 19.8% and 12.9% respectively, including those who underwent aggressive surgical intervention. History
Trisomy 13 was first observed by Thomas Bartholin in 1657, but the chromosomal nature of the disease was ascertained by Dr. Klaus Patau and Dr. Eeva Therman in 1960. The disease is named in Pataus honor.In England and Wales during 2008–09, there were 172 diagnoses of Patau syndrome (trisomy 13), with 91% of diagnoses made prenatally. There were 111 elective abortions, 14 stillbirth/miscarriage/fetal deaths, 30 outcomes unknown, and 17 live births.
Differential diagnosis
The differential diagnosis should include intoxication by other substances with sedative effects, such as benzodiazepines, anticonvulsants (carbamazepine), alcohols (ethanol, ethylene glycol, methanol), opioids, carbon monoxide, sleep aids, and gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB – a known date rape drug). Natural disease that can result in disorientation may be in the differential, including hypoglycemia and myxedema coma. In the right setting, hypothermia should be ruled out. References


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