Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Definition
Spinal muscular atrophy is a term that describes a number of different conditions, all of which have in common the gradual deterioration of the voluntary muscles.
Description
Several different conditions fall under the name spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). These include SMA type I, also called Werdnig-Hoffmann; SMA type II; SMA type III, also called Kugelberg-Welander disease; Kennedy syndrome, or progressive spinobulbar muscular atrophy; and congenital SMA with arthrogryposis.
Demographics
The autosomal recessive forms of spinal muscular atrophy are the most common inherited cause of infant death. Each type of spinal muscular atrophy has an incidence of about 10 to 15 cases in every 100,000 live...
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