Active clinical trials for "Muscular Dystrophies"

This study is an observational study that aims to advance our knowledge on infantile onset FSHD. The study will include 50 participants of all ages who have presented with symptoms of FSHD between birth and 10 years of age. Study participation will involve a single day of assessments at one of the participating CINRG centers (to include physical exam, cognitive testing, eye exam, hearing test, strength testing and speech evaluations). The procedures may be split over additional days for scheduling purposes.

The aim of the proposed research is to compare two commonly used pediatric strength testing measures: handheld myometry (HHM) and CINRG Quantitative Measurement System (CQMS), with the goal of identifying a sensitive and valid tool for measuring muscle strength in children with DMD. The data obtained from this study will be used to make recommendations for strength measurement endpoints in prospective muscular dystrophy trials and provide more reliable and accurate recommendations in the clinic for strength assessment. This study will be performed at six participating sites in the Cooperative International Neuromuscular Research Group (CINRG).

POMT2 mutation is known to cause Walker Warburg Syndrome and Muscle-Brain-Eye syndrome. Recently it has been connected to limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD), a disorder characterized by muscle weakness and atrophy of the proximal muscles of the shoulder and pelvic girdles. LGMD is classified based on its inheritance pattern and genetic cause into more than 31 different types. LGMD with POMT2 mutations is a new phenotype - type 2N. Very few patients with the LGMD2N phenotype has been reported. In this study, the investigators examine five new cases with the LGMD phenotype. The primary aim is to examine the muscle involvement using MRI.

This study is utilizing ultrasound measurement to measure neuromuscular disease status in adult patients. The hypothesis is the by quantifying ultrasound data, it is possible that ultrasound can be utilized as a tool to determine if a disease is responding to therapy or progressing.

Retrospective cohort study including patients with genetically proven Duchenne muscular dystrophy, diagnosed from January 1993 to March 2020. Inclusion of the data relative to genetic diagnosis, clinical characteristics at baseline, cardiac and respiratory workup, medical treatments (ACE inhibitors, steroids), surgical procedures, and occurrence during follow-up of cardiac, respiratory and fatal events. Objectives are to describe long-term natural history of the disease, vital prognosis, genotype-phenotype correlations, effect of treatments.

The primary cause of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a common adult-onset dystrophy, was recently discovered identifying targets for therapy. As multiple drug companies pursue treatments for FSHD, there is an urgent need to define the clinical trial strategies which will hasten drug development, including creating disease-relevant outcome measures and optimizing inclusion criteria. This proposal will develop two new outcome measures and optimize eligibility criteria by testing 160 patients in 7 sites over a period of 24 months.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common and devastating form of muscular dystrophy, caused by an X-chromosome gene mutation resulting in the absence of the protein dystrophin. Gene therapy by exon skipping or stop codon read-through and cell therapy are at the stage of clinical assays with very promising results. Nevertheless, they will not allow a complete cure of DMD patients and they will concern only specific types of mutations. It is therefore crucial to develop other therapeutic strategies related to the natural history of the disease and targeted not on the dystrophin itself, but on the consequences of its absence. Another crucial pathophysiological pathway in DMD is muscle cell calcium homeostasis, particularly via the ryanodine recepteur (RyR1). Our study focus on the relationship between endomysial fibrosis, abnormal inflammation response and calcium homeostasis dysfunction which are not entirely established in DMD. The identification of the biological mechanisms that play a role in the severity of the phenotype, particularly endomysial fibrosis, should allow the development of targeted pharmacotherapy as a complementary strategy for the future treatment of DMD.

For ambulatory children with DMD, physiotherapy is aimed at protecting ambulation, improving motor performance to the best level and increasing quality of life. The investigators think that the treatment of children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy may become more effective with physiotherapy programs based on the comprehensive physiotherapy evaluation results, including the evaluation of fear of falling. This study investigates the fear of falling in children with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and questioning whether their fear of falling affects their quality of life and their physical performance.

The aim of the study was to compare the severity of illness between groups of patients (Facio-Scapulo-Humeral Dystrophy = FHSD1, FSHD2 and patients both FSHD1 and FSHD2). Despite advances in research on the subject, answers are still needed on these diseases. We also aim to determine whether the chromosomal genetic abnormality is involved in other diseases and the frequency of this mutation in the population of patients FSHD. This study will increase our knowledge of the two forms of FSHD who present a common pathophysiological mechanism and may occur together in the same family with a worsening of the clinical phenotype worsening . In addition, epigenetic differences between FSHD type 1 and type 2 seems to have clinical consequences requiring appropriate management

The investigators propose to conduct a comparative pilot cognitive and psychiatric profiles of 10 patients Facio-Scapulo-Humeral Dystrophy (= FHSD) type 1 and 10 patients with type 2 FSHD study. For this, the investigators relied on observational components: FSHD2 patients appear more often present with psychiatric comorbidities and seem to have lower cognitive performance compared to FSHD1 patients. This was confirmed by a preliminary study on a small sample population of patients. It seems to exist mainly executive dysfunction associated with attention disorders in patients FSHD2. Moreover, their performance in IQ tests would be low in relation to their socio-educational and compared with patients FSHD1 level.