Molecular deletion screening with cDNA probes from the dystrophin gene was undertaken in patients with Becker muscular dystrophy from 58 separate families. Deletions were found in 41 (71%) of these families. Thirty-four (83%) of the deletions started in the same intron near the centre of the gene, and although there was no precise correlation between clinical severity and deletion pattern, the ...

A 44-year-old male patient with known Becker muscular dystrophy and concomitant non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy presented to our department because of worsening heart failure and presyncope. Upon admission, the patient was in New York Heart Association functional class III despite optimal pharmacological treatment; his ECG showed sinus rhythm with left bundle branch block and a wide QRS com...

Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy severity depends upon the nature and location of the DMD gene lesion and generally correlates with the dystrophin open reading frame. However, there are striking exceptions where an in-frame genomic deletion leads to severe pathology or protein-truncating mutations (nonsense or frame-shifting indels) manifest as mild disease. Exceptions to the dystrophin r...

duchene and becker muscular dystrophy (dmd and bmd) are x-linked conditions that result from a defect in the dystrophin gene located on xp21. dmd is the most frequent neuromuscular disease in humans (1/3500 male newborns). in approximately 65% of dmd and bmd patients, deletions in the dystrophin gene have been identified as the molecular determinant. population-based variations in frequency and...