The muscular dystrophies are an important group of inherited disorders . They are characterized by muscle wasting and weakness, but vary cons iderably in their clinical manifestations and severity. This text rev iews our understanding of the most important of these disorders. In ma ny instances, the genes and protein products responsible for the dystr ophies have been identified and it is now possible to establish a prec ise diagnosis, detect preclinical cases, identify carriers and offer p renatal dianostic testing. The book goes on to describe the opportunit ies for management of the...

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is a disease that only affects males, with an incidence of around 1 in 3500 new-born baby boys. Its relentless progress is charterized by loss of the ability to walk by around the age of 10 or 11, leading to a wheelchair life, and dealth from cardiac and respiratory problems usually around the late teens or early twenties. Edward Meryon was the first person to give a full and detailed clinical description of what later research knows as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. His research identified many facets of the condition which we now take for granted, for example that...