muscular dystrophy

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muscular dystrophy n. a group of muscle diseases, marked by weakness and wasting of selected muscles, in which there is a recognizable pattern of inheritance. The affected muscle fibres degenerate and are replaced by fatty tissue. The most common form is Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which is nearly always restricted to boys and usually begins before the age of four. The child has a waddling gait and lordosis of the lumbar spine. The calf muscles – and later the shoulders and upper limbs – often become firm and bulky. See also Becker muscular dystrophy, dystrophia myotonica (myotonic dystrophy).

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