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Blood Tests For Muscular Dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy is a progressive disease caused by a genetic disorder and it weakens the muscles in the face, limbs and even the heart. People who suffer form this condition are weak and frail to look at. This condition is mainly caused due to a protein deficiency in the DNA structure and also the muscle tissues are damaged.

As the muscle tissue degenerates, the muscle bulk also reduces over a period of time. However, as a mode of treatment sometimes the degenerated muscle tissue can be replaced. There are few types of muscular dystrophy like

• Duchenne
• Becker
• Myotonic dystrophy
• Facioscapulohumeral
• Limb-girdle
• Oculopharyngeal
• Congenital
• Distal
• Emery-Dreifuss

There are more than thirty types of genes that cause muscular dystrophy in a person. Most of the muscular dystrophies can be diagnosed through a gene test. Also, this type of condition affects people of all ages. Some people do not show symptoms of it until middle age or even later. One of the most common types of dystrophies to affect people is the Duchenne dystrophy, and it affects children mainly. One of the most common types of dystrophies affecting the adults is the Myotonic dystrophy.

Blood tests are mainly conducted to identify dystrophy in order to find an enzyme called the creatine kinase. When this particular enzyme increases in the blood, the muscle deteriorates and eventually the physical symptoms start appearing. There are other ways to identify the condition like a DNA or a gene test and also muscle biopsy or electromyogram.

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