LD meaning in Medical ?

Lafora disease is a terminal and autosomal recessive genetic disorder characterized by the presence of inclusion bodies, known as Lafora bodies, within the cytoplasm of the cells in the heart, liver, muscle, and skin.: 545 Lafora disease is also a neurodegenerative disease that causes impairment in the development of cerebral cortical neurons and is a glycogen metabolism disorder.Lafora disease, is a rare, adult-onset recessive neurodegenerative disease, which results in myoclonus epilepsy and usually results in death several years after the onset of symptoms. The disease is characterized by the accumulation of insoluble particles called Lafora bodies, which are derived from glycogen.

Lafora disease (LD) was described by the Spanish Neuropathologist Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora (1886-1971) in 1911, while directing the Neuropathology Section at the Government Hospital for Mental Insane (current NIH, USA)

Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora was a disciple of Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1906) and one of the most brilliant exponents of the Cajal School or the Spanish Neurological School.

Typically Lafora is very rare in children, adolescents and adults worldwide. However, Lafora disease has a higher incidence among children and adolescents with ancestry from regions where incestuous relationships are common, namely the Mediterranean (North Africa, Southern Europe), the Middle East, India, and Pakistan. Dogs can also have the condition. In canines, Lafora disease can spontaneously occur in any breed, but the Miniature Wire Haired Dachshund, Bassett Hound, and the Beagle are predisposed to LD.

Most human patients with this disease do not live past the age of twenty-five, and death within ten years of symptoms is usually inevitable. Late onset symptoms of this disease can begin at any age depending on the genes affected. At present, there is no cure for this disease but there are ways to deal with symptoms through treatments and medications.