Muscle & nerve
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Historical Article
Origins and early descriptions of "Duchenne muscular dystrophy".
One of the seminal events in the history of neurology was the identification of primary diseases of muscle and their separation from diseases in which muscle weakness was secondary to injury involving the anterior horns of the spinal cord ("progressive muscular atrophy"). Not surprisingly, one of the first groups of primary muscle diseases to be satisfactorily characterized belonged to what would today be classified as muscular dystrophies. Pride of place in this group belongs to Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). ⋯ In addition, the first American contributions to DMD are reviewed, including those by Pepper, Hammond, and S. Weir Mitchell. Many of the original papers describing this disease are now unavailable outside of major medical libraries, and several important contributions, excepting those of Duchenne, which are recognized eponymously, are now virtually forgotten.