Excursion of The Diaphragm in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy with A Chest Respirator.

Abstract

We evaluated the excursion of the diaphragm in five patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy maintained on a chest respirator. The excursion was determined by chest X-ray in all cases and by fluroscopy in two. Overnight monitoring using a pulse oximeter was performed on every patient. Two patients who demonstrated recurrent desaturation were examined by chest X-ray during sleep. The excursion of the diaphragm was very small in all cases.