At the UCI Health ALS & Neuromuscular Center, dedicated specialists provide complete, personalized care to patients with neuromuscular disorders, including muscular dystrophy, Lou Gehrig's disease, myopathies, and myasthenia gravis.
UCI Health clinical neurologists and neurosciences researchers work side-by-side to diagnose these progressive diseases and to provide our patients with innovative and comprehensive treatments.
So today we're here in Huntington Beach to have a neuromuscular symposium. It's the 12th of its kind. We've gathered a lot of neuromuscular physicians all across the country to meet discuss ongoing research as well as rare clinical cases and disease. I'm Doctor Ho, I'm one of the neuromuscular fellows at UC Irvine right now. Uh I did my residency in Boston and my med school in Saint Louis. I'm an Irvine native and I'm happy to be back today at this symposium. I was able to present a rare case of neutro lipid storage disorder with myopathy. We brought in a patient from our clinic and presented her live physical exam and history taking in front of a panel of experts in neuromuscular disease. Professor Needham flew from Australia to come and join us to directly obtain the physical exam and history as well as share her diagnostic thinking process. I was able to describe in detail the extensive diagnostic Odyssey that we were able to complete for this patient before she got a genetic diagnosis. Types of information that we were able to provide on stage included electro diagnostic studies, muscle MRI S as well as muscle histology. I was, I'll be able to describe this case in detail as well as this rare gene and how it had been identified um both in her as well as patients with similar conditions. Being able to discuss this case with a panel of clinical experts at the symposium is going to change clinical practice. These these experts come to us with decades of clinical experience treating all types of progressive muscle disease that I plan to use in my day to day practice. From neuromuscular. I think being able to share our clinical expertise with treating degenerative diseases is going to be a really beneficial to my patient today as well as her family and my future patients. We're talking a lot about this new era of gene therapy and how it's just on the horizon. As far as the future goes with regards to treating degenerative neuromuscular disease, we are looking into next generation immunotherapies as well as potential gene therapies. They're already being employed in phase two and phase three trials for varieties of rare and ultra rare neuromuscular diseases. And some have even seen FDA approval in the last couple of years. We're actively using this treatment here at UC I.
