Muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy refers to a group of diseases that are characterized by symmetrical, progressive atrophy of all available skeletal muscles. The disease is practically asymptomatic, since there are no pronounced pains and there is no loss of sensitivity in the extremities.

No funds for the treatment of such a disease as muscular dystrophy have yet been developed. Currently, there are several main types of this pathology. But most often Duchenne muscular dystrophy occurs , in almost 50% of all cases this type is observed. As a rule, the disease begins to develop in childhood, and by the age of 20 leads to death. Other types of dystrophy develop less progressively, and patients can live up to 40 years. And such species as shoulder and facial dystrophy and the extremity of the waist generally do not affect life expectancy at all.

The development of this disease can be due to various kinds of genes. For example, only men become complicated species. And the gene of these species is in the sex chromosome. Easier types of the disease can hurt not only men, but also women.

Any progressive muscular dystrophy causes muscle atrophy. But this pathology has different degrees of severity and different time of appearance.

For example, Duchenne's muscular dystrophy begins to manifest itself in early childhood, somewhere between 3 and 5 years. Children have a characteristic gait waddling, on the stairs they rise with great difficulty, as a rule, often fall and simply can not run. If the child lifts his hands, then the effect of the lagging of the scapula from the trunk is observed, this symptom is also called "pterygoid scapulas". A child who has such a disease, at the age of 9-11 years, becomes chained to a wheelchair. Dystrophy also affects the cardiac muscles, which almost always leads to death from heart failure, which usually occurs suddenly. In addition, patients can die from any infection or from respiratory failure.

Dystrophy, which has localized lesions, develops much more slowly. The first symptoms can appear only to 5 years, but after 15 children still have the ability to walk, and often much later. Signs of a mild form of dystrophy are, for example, such pathologies as: a bad process of breast sucking, there is no way to fold your lips for a whistle, and also the inability to raise your hands above your head. Often, the disease can be expressed in abnormal facial expressions and lack of mobility during crying or laughing.

If there is a suspicion of this disease, it is necessary to immediately show the child to the doctor, who, in turn, will appoint a certain examination. Quite often, a piece of muscle tissue is taken for analysis - a biopsy. It, as a rule, shows the available cellular changes and the presence of fatty deposits. When analyzing all the data obtained, the physician can more accurately predict the course of the disease.

In specialized medical centers, with the help of state-of-the-art equipment, doctors can accurately determine whether a child is susceptible to this disease. To do this, the next of kin are examined for their respective genes. If the family had cases of this disease, those who are going to conceive a child, you must first consult in similar medical and genetic centers.

In the event that a child has developed a disease such as muscular dystrophy, treatment should be used immediately. There are no healing means, as already mentioned, but there are some orthopedic devices, exercises, and also surgery, finally. All this can, for a while, save the child's mobility.