BACKGROUND Most patients with Friedreich ataxia (FRDA) have abnormal GAA triplet repeat expansions in both X25 genes. The size of the GAA expansion in the shorter of the 2 expanded alleles correlates significantly with parameters of clinical severity and is inversely related to the age at onset. OBJECTIVES To describe the clinical and molecular genetic findings in a patient with very late-ons...

Eighteen patients with the presumptive diagnosis of Friedreich's ataxia were studied. Clinical, neurophysiological and biochemical data were concordant in 14 patients and led to the diagnosis of typical Friedreich's ataxia in this group of patients. The remaining 4 patients differed from the typical patients in several respects, but mainly in the cardiological findings. It is concluded that no ...

We present the case of a 50-year-old female patient with Friedreich ataxia (FA) who was treated successfully with an intrathecal baclofen (ITB)-delivering pump for painful spasms. To our knowledge, this is the second reported case of FA where ITB relieved painful and disabling spasms. We suggest that ITB should be considered in the treatment of disabling spasms in patients with FA.

Friedreich ataxia, myotonic dystrophy type 1, and 3 forms of intellectual disability, Fragile X syndrome, FRAXE mental retardation and FRA12A mental retardation are Repeat Expansion Diseases caused by expansion of CTG•CAG, GAA•TTC, or CGG•CCGrepeat tracts. These repeats are transcribed, but not translated. They are located in different parts of different genes and cause symptoms that range from...