Muscular Dystrophy Types, Symptoms, Diagnosis And Treatment

What is Muscular Dystrophy (MD)?

Muscular Dystrophy (MD) is a collection of inherited muscular degeneration diseases that damage and weaken the muscles progressively. The lack of dystrophin, a protein required for normal muscle function, is responsible for the damage. The general muscular dystrophy symptoms pose as problems with walking, swallowing, and muscle coordination. Although Muscular Dystrophy can occur at any age, childhood diagnoses are the most common. Muscular dystrophy prognosis depends on the type and the severity of symptoms but conventional muscular dystrophy treatment does not ensure any cure yet.

Muscular Dystrophy Symptoms

The majority of muscular dystrophies manifest their symptoms in childhood or adolescence. Children with the condition typically:

• Falls often
• Possess shaky muscles
• Muscle cramps
• Having issues standing up, sprinting, jumping, or climbing stairs
• Waddle or walk on their toes

Muscular Dystrophy Types

There are over 30 different muscular dystrophy types but five categories are commonly diagnosed:

1. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)
   This Muscular Dystrophy type is most common among children. The symptoms include: breathing and swallowing difficulties, walking difficulty, loss of reflexes, poor posture, bone thinning, abnormal spine curvature, mild intellectual impairment, and swallowing problems.
   People with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy typically require a wheelchair before their teenage years and the life expectancy is usually late teens or 20s.
2. Becker Muscular Dystrophy (BMD)
   Becker muscular dystrophy is similar to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, but of a less severe form. This Muscular Dystrophy type is more commonly found in boys. Symptoms are generally similar to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy but other symptoms include muscle weakness, muscle cramps, walking on toes, frequent falls, etc.
   The life expectancy of this muscular dystrophy type is higher and most patients don’t need a wheelchair until they’re in their mid-30s or older.
3. Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD)
   Congenital muscular dystrophy is often apparent between birth and 2 years. The muscular dystrophy symptoms include poor motor muscle control, muscle weakness, inability to sit or stand without support, foot deformities, breathing and swallowing difficulty, intellectual impairment, and abnormal spine curvature.
   While the symptoms vary from mild to severe disease conditions, the majority of congenital muscular dystrophy patients are unable to sit or stand without help. The life expectancy is also quite varied as some die in infancy while others live until adulthood.
4. Myotonic Dystrophy
   Myotonic dystrophy is also called Steinert’s disease. Myotonia is an inability to relax the muscles after they contract. The common symptoms are drooping facial muscles, difficulty in lifting the neck, difficulty in swallowing, droopy eyelids, early baldness, poor vision, weight loss, and increased sweating. In males, this muscular dystrophy type may cause impotence and testicular atrophy, whereas, in females, it may cause irregular menstruation periods and infertility. Myotonic dystrophy diagnoses are most common in the 20s and 30s.
5. Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy
   Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) is a condition with various subgroups classified by disease gene and inheritance. LGMD typically appears in the proximal muscles surrounding the hips and shoulders. (Proximal muscles are those closest to the centre of the body; distal muscles are those farther distant from the centre, such as those in the hands and feet.)

Muscular Dystrophy Diagnosis

Some common test procedures for muscular dystrophy diagnosis are:

• test your blood for the enzymes released by damaged muscles
• test your blood for the genetic markers of Muscular Dystrophy
• perform an electromyography test on your muscle’s electrical activity using an electrode needle that enters your muscle
• perform a muscle biopsy to test a sample of your muscle for muscular dystrophies

Muscular Dystrophies Treatment

There is currently no muscular dystrophy cure but treatments that can manage the symptoms and reduce the rate of progression include corticosteroid drugs, assisted ventilation, heart problem medication, surgery, and physiotherapy. In recent light of regenerative medicine awareness, muscular dystrophy conditions have seen favorable recovery outcomes by stem cell therapy.

Muscular dystrophy treatment with Stem Cells has shown the potential of repair and regeneration of the damaged muscular tissues. Moreover, stem cell therapy for muscular dystrophy has become a positive treatment possibility for reversing the diseased conditions. For more information on Stem Cell Therapy for Muscular Dystrophy, visit Advancells at [email protected]
for a free consultation.