Duchenne muscular dystrophy
RSS feedDMD: a summary of the factors correlated with cardiac damage
A review of the literature on predictors of cardiac involvement in Duchenne muscular dystrophy included 33 articles concerning 9,232 patients. Most (76%) were retrospective studies, 15% randomised studies, 6% prospective cohort studies and 3% case series. Cardiac treatments were significantly associated with preserved systolic ejection fraction, with a moderate to high level of evidence. Mutations … [Read more]
Viltolarsen slows the decline in respiratory function in walking and non-walking patients
A drug targeting exon 53 skipping of the DMD gene authorised in the United States and Japan, viltolarsen was evaluated for 48 weeks (80mg/kg/week) in 10 walking and 10 non-walking DMD patients aged 8 and over, in the Galactica53 trial. The results compared with those of untreated DMD patients from an external cohort showed that … [Read more]
DMD: French recommandations on corticoids
On the basis of a review of the literature, the Filnemus neuromuscular rare diseases health network and the French Paediatric Neurology Society (SFNP), including clinicians from I-Motion, have published recommendations to harmonise practices for prescribing corticosteroid therapy and monitoring associated adverse effects in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. With regard to the long-term use of … [Read more]
A study of the relationship between ambulation loss and the impact of corticosteroids on growth in DMD
The UK consortium dedicated to Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) reports the results of a retrospective study designed to investigate a possible link between the side-effects of long-term steroid administration on weight and height curves and the age of loss of ambulation: the clinical and anthropometric data of 648 children with DMD selected from the UKNorth … [Read more]
Towards a better understanding of genotype/phenotype correlations in DMD
American clinicians studied a large cohort of children followed at the only neuromuscular consultation in Cincinnati (USA) for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD): 555 patients were included in the study, All were receiving long-term corticosteroid therapy (at least 12 months), but without any associated innovative therapy, age at loss of walking was chosen as the main … [Read more]
A multi-factorial approach to urinary disorders in DMD
Turkish physiotherapists report on their experience in assessing symptoms, disorders and signs of the lower urinary tract in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD): 45 children and adolescents aged 5-18 years with DMD were included in the study, Assessments included a functional score assessing bladder emptying and the risk of urinary incontinence, a Vignos score, … [Read more]
Comparative data on vamorolone and prednisone for adrenal suppression
Long-term corticosteroid therapy remains the reference treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), but is associated with numerous side-effects, including resting of the hypothalamo adrenal axis. An international group of researchers has carried out a post-hoc analysis of the data obtained in a previous phase IIb trial designed to demonstrate the superiority of vamorolone (a new-generation … [Read more]
DMD: a gene therapy strategy more effective than microdystrophin in mdx mice
Within a month of each other, a German-American and a Chinese-American team published the proof of concept of a gene therapy strategy leading to the expression of a full-length dystrophin in the skeletal and cardiac muscle of mdx mice. This method is based on intelin-mediated protein trans-splicing. It uses triple administration via a highly muscle-tropic … [Read more]
A case of myositis following gene therapy for DMD
American clinicians involved in gene therapy designed to deliver a truncated version of the dystrophin gene (microdystrophin) by vein, using an adeno-associated virus, have reported a complication that was already known but rarely encountered: the patient was 9 years old and still able to walk at the time of gene therapy (GT), his genotype corresponded … [Read more]
Heart transplants and muscular dystrophies: reticence shattered
A review of the literature on the 275 heart transplants performed for muscular dystrophies up to July 2023 shows that : these operations involved 116 patients with Becker’s myopathy (BMD) and 102 with laminopathy, but also 17 patients with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD), 12 with Steinert’s myotonic dystrophy (DM1), 11 with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), … [Read more]
