His treatment proved useful for increasing the mobility of people with OI, and it has been adopted throughout the world—it became standard surgical treatment for severe OI by 1979, in which year David Sillence found that ≈2⁄3 of the patients he surveyed with OI type III had undergone at least one rodding surgery. : 108 Rodding surgery is often done with the hope that it will offer a path to ambulation, walking, to patients with moderate or severe OI. A 2020 review in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JB&JS) found it remains broadly popular: ≈2⁄3 of people with OI types III and IV (severe OI) have undergone some form of rodding surgery in their lives, at a mean age of 4+1⁄10 and 7+1⁄2 years respectively;: Table I  one possible explanation for a tendency towards earlier intervention in type III is that one half of affected children could not walk at all without the surgery, as their limbs were more bowed, so surgery was sought sooner.In those with type III OI who had undergone rodding surgery, 79.5% had the femurs and tibias of both legs rodded. : Table I  The most common form of rods used are intramedullary (IM) rods, some of which, such as the Fassier–Duval IM rod, are telescoping, meaning that they are designed to grow as the child grows, in an attempt to avoid the necessity of revision surgeries. Telescoping IM rods are widely used, and the common Fassier–Duval IM rod is designed to be used to rod the femur, tibia, and humerus.
: 247  If affected, it is up to the family to consider whether or not they want to terminate the pregnancy and try again—raising questions of medical ethics and a womans right to choose.Without intervention, patients with the most common mutations causing osteogenesis imperfecta have a 50% chance per gestation of passing on the disorder, as these mutations are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern of Mendelian inheritance. : 247  Those with the rare autosomal recessive forms of OI have a 25% chance of passing on the disorder. Genetic testing of the affected members of the family can be used to determine which inheritance pattern applies. : 101 As OI type I may be difficult to detect in a newborn child, the cord blood of the child can be tested to determine if it has been passed on if the family has already rejected the more invasive genetic screening methods. : 247  In more severe cases, the diagnosis may be able to be done via ultrasound, especially if OI is already a possibility. : 248  An ethical concern with prenatal screening for OI often arises when parents inquire as to how severely affected their child will be—such questions are as yet difficult to answer conclusively. : 382 If a non-affected person has already had a child with OI, there is a greater likelihood (although still quite remote), that their future children will have OI due to genetic mosaicism.