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Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy - Overview

Alternative Names

Landouzy-Dejerine muscular dystrophy

Definition of Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy:

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is progressive muscle weakness and loss of muscle tissue.

Causes, incidence, and risk factors:

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy affects the upper body, unlike Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Becker muscular dystrophy, which affect the lower body.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder. It appears in both men and women and may develop in a child if either parent carries the gene for the disorder.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy affects approximately 5 out of 100,000 people. It affects men and women equally.

Superficial anterior muscles

Reviewed last on: 3/9/2010
Neil K. Kaneshiro, MD, MHA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine; Daniel B. Hoch, PhD, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF. Muscular dystrophies. In: Kliegman RM, Behrman RE, Jenson HB, Stanton BF, eds. Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 608.

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