Alternative titles and symbols : Muscular dystrophy, facioscapulohumeral, type 1; Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy; Muscular dystrophy, facioscapulohumeral, type 1a; Landouzy-dejerine muscular dystrophy; FSHD; FMD; FSHD1A;
Included titles and symbols : Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, infantile; Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy with sensorineural hearing loss and tortuosity of retinal
arterioles;
Description : Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy is the third most common hereditary disease
of muscle after Duchenne (DMD; 310200) and myotonic (160900) dystrophy. It is a highly
variable disorder with weakness appearing from infancy to late life but typically
in the second decade. In general, the disease initially involves the face and the
scapulae followed by the foot dorsiflexors and the hip girdles. Typical features are
striking asymmetry of muscle involvement from side to side and sparing of bulbar extraocular
and respiratory muscles (Tawil et al., 1998). Richards et al. (2012) provided a detailed
review of FSHD. See also FSHD2 (158901), which is phenotypically indistinguishable
from;
Inheritance : Autosomal dominant;
Molecular basis : Caused by contraction of a D4Z4 repeat array at chromosome 4q35;