We evaluated the frequency of cerebral infarction in 131 patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, myotonic dystrophy, Becker's muscular dystrophy, or Friedreich's ataxia. Electrocardiographic abnormalities were found in 83% of patients with Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, 56% with myotonic dystrophy, 50% with Becker's muscular dystrophy, and 25% with Friedreich's ataxia. Atrial flutter occur...

Myopathic involvement of the perianal musculature is one of the less well recognised features of myotonic dystrophy in children and may present with physical signs suggestive of sexual abuse. Details of six children with myotonic dystrophy are presented to emphasise the importance of considering an underlying myopathic condition in the differential diagnosis of anal laxity.

In myotonic muscular dystrophy, abnormal muscle Na currents underlie myotonic discharges. Since the myotonic muscular dystrophy gene encodes a product, human myotonin protein kinase, with structural similarity to protein kinases, we tested the idea that human myotonin protein kinase modulates skeletal muscle Na channels. Coexpression of human myotonin protein kinase with rat skeletal muscle Na ...

A patient with early onset of myotonic dystrophy, with associated neuropathy and epilepsy, is presented. It is postulated that his disorder was inherited through a recessive, pleomorphic gene. His differential diagnosis is discussed and the literature reviewed. The clinical variability of myotonic dystrophy is stressed and the diagnostic difficulties encountered in the younger age group.

STUDY OBJECTIVE Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is a multisystem disorder with myotonia, muscle weakness, cataracts, endocrine dysfunction, and intellectual impairment. This disorder is caused by a CTG triplet expansion in the 3' untranslated region of the DMPK gene on 19q13. Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is frequently associated with excessive daytime sleepiness, sharing with narcolepsy a short sleep la...

OBJECTIVE To determine the number of employed people in a group of patients with neuromuscular diseases and in 3 separate subgroups (facioscapulo-humeral dystrophy, hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy, and myotonic dystrophy) to investigate any differences in employment status between the patient groups, and to identify factors related to employment status. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. ...

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 or Steinert’s disease is the most common form of adult muscular dystrophy affecting multiple systems with a wide spectrum of phenotypes. This paper focuses on the different methods to diagnose myotonic dystrophy type 1 that have been used over the years and the various modifications that have been made to the previous diagnostics. The different diagnostic assays and th...

Myotonic dystrophy is an autosomal dominant neuromuscular disorder characterised by extreme pleiotropism and variability in disease expression. A congenital form is rare and is observed in infants born to symptomatic mothers with multisystem involvement. We report a case of a neonate with congenital myotonic dystrophy born to an asymptomatic mother.

Levels of immunoglobulins IgG, IgA, and IgM were measured in 38 patients with myotonic dystrophy, in normal members of their families, and in matched controls. Log IgG was significantly reduced in the patients. IgG investigation provides a further parameter to appraise the status of apparently unaffected members of myotonic dystrophy families.

OBJECTIVE Although the conventional prevalence of myotonic dystrophy is 1:8,000, the prevalence in Korean population was recently reported as 1:1,245. With higher domestic result than expected, we aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of pregnancies complicated by congenital myotonic dystrophy in our institution. METHODS We have reviewed 11 paired cases of neonates diagnosed with ...