myotonic dystrophy

noun

: a muscular disorder that is characterized by dystrophic muscle weakness and myotonia affecting multiple bodily systems and that is caused by an abnormally high number of repeats of a codon in the genetic material

Examples of myotonic dystrophy in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

People with certain genetic conditions, such as myotonic dystrophy or lipodystrophy, often have insulin resistance. —Knvul Sheikh, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Feb. 2024

According to his publicist, Gottfried died of recurrent ventricular tachycardia resulting from myotonic dystrophy type 2 on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 12. —Vulture, 12 Apr. 2022

The company is named after a young girl in Florida who has a pediatric version of myotonic dystrophy Type 1 — another muscular dystrophy-like disorder. —Mike Freeman, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 June 2023

Gottfried, who famously voiced Iago in Disney's 1992 classic Aladdin, had been dealing with recurrent ventricular tachycardia due to myotonic dystrophy type II, his longtime friend and publicist Glenn Schwartz told PEOPLE. —Julie Mazziotta, PEOPLE.com, 13 Apr. 2022

Word History

First Known Use

1929, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

myotonic dystrophy

noun

: an inherited condition that is characterized by delay in the ability to relax muscles after forceful contraction, wasting of muscles, formation of cataracts, premature baldness, atrophy of the gonads, endocrine and cardiac abnormalities, and often intellectual disability and that is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait

—abbreviation DM

called also Steinert's disease