noun
also duchenne's muscular dystrophy
Usage: usually capitalized 1st D
Etymology: after Guillaume Armand Duchenne died 1875 French neurologist
: a severe progressive form of muscular dystrophy of males that appears in early childhood, affects the muscles of the legs before those of the arms and the proximal muscles of the limbs before the distal ones, is inherited as an X-linked recessive trait, is characterized by complete absence of the protein dystrophin, and usually has a fatal outcome by age 20 — see becker muscular dystrophy herein