View clinical trials related to Muscular Dystrophies.
Filter by:Background: - Some kinds of muscular dystrophy affect the skeletal muscle membrane. In these conditions, the muscle membrane is more fragile. This affects how the muscles contract and relax, which causes movement problems. Researchers are looking at several muscle enzymes, or chemicals that affect how muscle cells function. By studying changes in these enzymes, they may be able to better understand how muscular dystrophy affects the cells. Researchers want to collect biomarkers (chemicals from blood samples) from people with fragile sarcolemmal muscular dystrophy. This information may provide better treatments for this condition. Objectives: - To study biomarkers that may affect the muscles of people with fragile sarcolemmal muscular dystrophy. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 18 years of age with fragile sarcolemmal muscular dystrophy. Design: - Participants will be screened with a medical history and physical exam. - Participants will be asked to come for four visits to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. The visits will be at least 2 months apart. Each visit will require participants to stay for 5 days at the clinical center. - During each visit, participants will provide frequent small blood samples. These samples will be collected while at rest and after physical exercise. - Participants will also have a physical therapy assessment. They will perform standard motor function tests and imaging tests (MRI, MRS). These tests may take up to 1 hour each time. - Treatment will not be provided as part of this study.
We will utilize the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG) network to collect and store tissue and blood from patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) with specific genetic mutations within the dystrophin gene that could be treated by antisense oligonucleotide (AO) drugs.
The purpose of this research study is to identify and study changes in muscle in people with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy using magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate and optimize advances in radio frequency (RF) coil magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC).
This is a multi-center natural history study that will be conducted at participating centers in the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG). Following a baseline evaluation, participants will have three follow-up visits over a three-year period. The investigators will characterize the Becker muscular dystrophy phenotype, and correlate specific abnormal dystrophin proteins with the range of clinical outcomes.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), the most common muscular dystrophy, leads to skeletal and cardiac muscle damage. Treatment of pulmonary complications has improved survival; however, heart muscle disease or cardiomyopathy has emerged as a leading cause of death, typically by the third decade. Although myocardial changes begin early, clinically significant heart disease is rarely detected in the first decade of life. Consequently, DMD cardiomyopathy frequently goes unrecognized (and untreated) until advanced (and irreversible). Current DMD cardiovascular care guidelines recommend beta-blockers and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) when decreased ejection fraction (EF) is noted by echocardiography (echo); however, this strategy has not significantly improved outcomes. Our team has recently made a breakthrough in a mouse study, showing in a model that causes the same heart muscle disease in humans with DMD adding an old medicine traditionally used for high blood pressure and late-stage heart failure can actually prevent heart muscle damage. Because of this drug's proven safety in both children and adults, it is ready to be studied immediately in an RCT in patients with DMD to hopefully show, as we did in mice, that we can prevent the devastating consequences of heart muscle damage.
The muscular dystrophies (MD) are a group of more than 30 neuromuscular disorders that are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins and the death of muscle cells and tissue. This study will investigate the use of far infrared radiation for managing muscular dystrophies.
The purpose of this study is to establish the largest long-term assessment of people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). In this study, the investigators associated with the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group CINRG) will take a detailed look (for a minimum of eight years) at DMD participant's physical abilities, the medical problems they experience, and how they use health care services. Physical abilities will be compared to a group of healthy controls. The second purpose of this study is to find out whether small, normal differences in the genetic makeup of people with DMD (called "single nucleotide polymorphisms" or "SNPs") affect how their disease progresses and relates to muscle strength/size and steroid response. The third purpose of this study is to study genetic variations associated with DMD. The final purpose of this study is to determine whether certain biomarkers are present in people with DMD and not in healthy controls.