Active clinical trials for "Muscular Dystrophies"

The main objective of this study is to provide evidence of efficacy of eteplirsen (AVI-4658) in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients that are amenable to skipping exon 51. Additional objectives include evaluation of safety, biomarkers and the long-term effects of eteplirsen up to 96 weeks, followed by a safety extension (not to exceed 48 weeks).

This research study includes children ages 5 to 20 years old with Collagen Type 6 Congenital Muscular Dystrophy or Laminin α2-related muscular dystrophy (LAMA2-MD). The goal of this study is to measure the effect of breathing exercise to stretch the chest in slowing the loss of breathing function. The breathing stretches are done with a machine called Cough Assist®. The study is being done at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The study involves traveling to one of these 2 centers for 4 visits over 13 months. The study also includes 3 sets of phone visits called Daily Phone Diaries. Participants will be "randomized" into one of 2 study groups in a 1:1 ratio. The treatment group will use the Cough Assist® machine twice a day for 15 minutes. The control group will continue with their current daily care. The Cough Assist® is a machine that blows air into the lungs (insufflation) and helps pull air out of the lungs. The investigators will be blowing enough air into the lungs to cause a stretch to the chest. This is called hyperinsufflation. Study visits will last about 5 to 6 hours and will include medical and quality of life questionnaires and pulmonary function tests to determine lung function and the individualized settings to be prescribed for the Cough Assist®.

Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DBMD) is a genetic disorder that develops in boys. It is caused by a mutation in the gene for dystrophin, a protein that is important for maintaining normal muscle structure and function. Loss of dystrophin causes muscle fragility that leads to weakness and loss of walking ability during childhood and teenage years. A specific type of mutation, called a nonsense (premature stop codon) mutation, is the cause of DBMD in approximately 10-15% of boys with the disease. Ataluren is an orally delivered, investigational drug that has the potential to overcome the effects of the nonsense mutation. This study comprises a Phase 3, open-label study of ataluren in participants with nmDBMD who previously received ataluren at an Investigator site in a prior PTC-sponsored clinical study. A separate open-label study (PTC124-GD-016-DMD; NCT01247207) is being conducted for nmDBMD participants who previously received ataluren at an Investigator site in the United States (US).

The primary objective of this study is to explore safety and tolerability of eteplirsen in participants with advanced stage Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) who are amenable to exon 51 skipping.

This study will evaluate the antibiotic gentamicin for treating patients with muscular dystrophy caused by a specific genetic abnormality known as a nonsense mutation. In studies of mice with this type of muscular dystrophy, gentamicin treatment produced positive changes in muscle tissue. Patients with Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy caused by nonsense mutations by may be eligible for this 2-week study. Before starting treatment, patients will have evaluations of muscle strength and general well being. Two muscle tissue samples will be taken by needle biopsy, under local anesthetic and sedation. Because of potential risks of hearing loss and kidney toxicity associated with gentamicin, patients will also have a hearing test and blood and urine tests for kidney function before starting treatment. (Currently, gentamicin is commonly prescribed for serious infections of the lungs, heart, and digestive and urinary tracts; adverse effects of hearing loss and kidney toxicity can occur with excessively high drug doses.) Patients will be hospitalized during drug treatment. Gentamicin will be given intravenously (through a vein) once a day for 14 days. Blood samples will be collected daily to monitor drug levels and determine dosage adjustments, if necessary. Urine samples will be collected to assess kidney function. Hearing tests will be done on days 7 and 10. On the last day of the study, hearing, kidney function, and muscle strength will be tested and the results compared with pre-treatment levels. Blood and muscle samples will also be taken again for pre-treatment comparison. Hearing, blood, urine, and muscle strength tests will be repeated one month after treatment ends for comparison with previous results.

This study will help to determine whether a high-dose weekly course of prednisone therapy is safer than and at least as effective as daily dose therapy for people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Boys who are enrolled in this study should not have taken carnitine, other amino acids, creatine, glutamine, Coenzyme Q10 or any herbal medicines within the last three months. There will be a two-visit screening to take place in one week to ensure a reproducible manual muscle test. The subject will then be randomized and put into either the daily or weekly regimen. The duration of the study is twelve 28-day treatment cycles (approximately 12 months) with follow-up visits at month one, three and then every three months.

The investigators evaluated clinical tolerance, biological tolerance, feasibility and efficacy of daily electrostimulation training of shoulder girdle and quadriceps muscles in 10 patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, the third most common inherited myopathy.

OBJECTIVES: I. Characterize the effect of prednisone on muscle protein metabolism in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. II. Determine whether prednisone changes levels of insulin-like growth factor 1, growth hormone, and insulin. III. Characterize the effect of prednisone on muscle morphometry and muscle localization of utrophin. IV. Compare the prednisone response in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy to that seen in normal individuals and in patients with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy.

To establish a collaborative group of clinical trial centers, with standardized equipment and protocols, able to conduct both drug and gene therapy trials in DMD. To evaluate the therapeutic effect of glutamine and creatine monohydrate on muscle strength in children with DMD. To validate the use of QMT (quantitative muscle strength testing) and gait analysis in children with DMD as reliable tools to quantify muscle strength, monitor disease progression and assess therapeutic response.

Motor imagery (MI) can be defined as a dynamic process in which the person is mentally stimulated without performing the given motor movement. Studies of imagery; demonstrated that it alters a person's ability to learn, performance skills, and important cognitive skills (self-efficacy, self-confidence, effort, motivation). In recent years, it has been shown that motor imagery techniques are used for therapeutic purposes as a current neurorehabilitation approach and that imagery can have positive effects on improving motor activity and functions. However, it has been reported that the biggest difficulty in the use of imagery techniques is the inability to determine to what extent the individual can perform mental representation of movements. For this reason, it is thought that it is necessary to evaluate the motor imagery ability first in order to identify the patients who are suitable for motor imagery training. The Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire (KVIQ) is a motor imagery questionnaire developed for individuals with limited mobility for different reasons. The questionnaire assesses both the visual and kinesthetic dimensions of motor imagery. of the KVIQ; It has also been shown in the literature that it is a valid and reliable questionnaire that enables the appropriate evaluation of motor imagery in different neurological disease groups such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, and stroke. However, the literature When examined, no evidence was found about the motor imagery ability of individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). It is foreseen that KVIQ will be especially suitable for patients with DMD of different functional levels, since all its items have been developed to be applied to people with limited physical mobility or physically disabled people in a sitting position. Therefore, in this study, it is aimed to investigate the validity and reliability of the Kinesthetic and Visual Imagery Questionnaire for patients with DMD.