Science News

$11 Million Supports Five-Year Study to Compare Treatments ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A large international study aimed at improving the care of muscular dystrophy patients worldwide is being launched by physicians, physical therapists, and researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Neurologist Robert "Berch" Griggs, M.D., is heading the study of treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common form of the disease that affects children. The condition, which affects boys almost exclusively, progresses rapidly. Boys' symptoms start when they are toddlers; untreated, they end up in a wheelchair before they become teenagers. With today's best treatments, the disease, which affects about 28,000 boys and young men in the United States, is often fatal by the time a patient reaches his 20s or early 30s. Despite decades of research, Griggs calls the current treatment landscape for the disease "chaotic." Recently he has identified 29 different treatment regimens in us