Duchenne muscular dystrophy in Tunisia: a clinical and morphological study of 77 cases

Two types of progressive muscular dystrophy occur in Tunisian children. The first type is characterized by normal dystrophin assays and affects girls and boys in an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance. The second type has the features of the typical Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and has abnormal dystrophin. Between 1974 and 1986, 77 patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy were examined, 66 were biopsied. Among affected siblings and within family kindreds, we observed both clinical and histopathological variability. However, there was a close correlation between the clinical condition and the biopsy findings in each case, allowing accurate prediction of the patient's course and probable duration of the disease.