[Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Therapeutic principles and status after 14 years]

Eighty-one patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) were included in a retrospective investigation involving the period 1975-1989 with the object of describing a therapeutic programme to prevent the sequelae of the disease and to illustrate the course of the disease in the treated DMD-patients. The therapeutic programme was carried out at home under the supervision of a physiotherapist with current control examinations by specialists in neurology, orthopaedic surgery, physiurgy, pulmonary medicine and anaesthesia. Employing the Kaplan-Meier principle of calculation, it was found that the median age for cessation of ambulatory function was ten years and the age of survival 22 years. The results suggest that a daily training programme which includes prevention of contractures postpones cessation of ambulation and prolongs survival.