Progeria is a disease of children that produces rapid aging. The exact cause of progeria is unknown, although a hereditary component may be involved. Progeria results in rapid aging of children, beginning with growth failure during the first year of life. Progeria is a rare condition but has come into public awareness because of its startling symptoms and the appearance of several affected children in movies on national television.The children are small and thin with disproportionately large appearing heads, baldness, wizened narrow faces, and old-appearing skin. Children with progeria develop early atherosclerosis. The average lifespan is the early teens, although several have lived longer. The cause of death is usually related to the heart or a stroke as a result of the progressive atherosclerosis. There is presently no treatment for progeria. Support groups are available for the families of children with progeria. Precocious senility of striking degree is characteristic of this exceedingly rare disorder. Death from coronary artery disease is frequent and may occur before 10 years of age. Hastings Gilford gave the name progeria to this disorder in an article in which he also assigned the term ateleiosis to a pituitary growth hormone deficiency in 1904. He provided no photographs of progeria and indicated that only two well-marked instances have so far been recorded. Death from angina pectoris at age 18 years was noted. In 1886 Jonathan Hutchinson had previously written about the disorder . Ogihara in 1986 described a Japanese patient with progeria who survived to age 45, dying of myocardial infarction. Clinically, he seemed typical except for the unusually long survival. According to reviews of the literature, the age at death ranges from 7 to 27.5 years, with a median age of 13.4 years. Dyck in 1987 reported coronary artery bypass surgery and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in a 14-year-old girl with th...
