Genetic Inheritance Patterns of Neuromuscular Diseases. Genetic Inheritance Patterns of Neuromuscular Diseases.
Neuromuscular diseases are either hereditary or acquired.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy, due to an X-linked recessive gene, is an example of a hereditary disease. Polymyositis, in which environmental factors play an initiating role and there is inflammation of the muscle fibers, is an example of an acquired disorder. Congenital means that the disease is present at the time of birth, but a congenital defect is not always genetic. Examples of non-genetic congenital defects are Thalidomide babies and the congenital rubella syndrome. The words familial, hereditary and genetic are used when there is a history of the same disease in a family.