Degenerative disease
Template:Short description Degenerative disease is the result of a continuous process based on degenerative cell changes, affecting tissues or organs, which will increasingly deteriorate over time.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref>
In neurodegenerative diseases, cells of the central nervous system stop working or die via neurodegeneration. An example of this is Alzheimer's disease.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The other two common groups of degenerative diseases are those that affect circulatory system (e.g. coronary artery disease) and neoplastic diseases (e.g. cancers).<ref name=":3" />
Many degenerative diseases exist and some are related to aging. Normal bodily wear or lifestyle choices (such as exercise or eating habits) may worsen degenerative diseases, depending on the specific condition.<ref name=":3" /> Sometimes the main or partial cause behind such diseases is genetic.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite news</ref> Thus some are clearly hereditary like Huntington's disease.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite journal</ref> Other causes include viruses, poisons or chemical exposures, while sometimes, the underlying cause remains unknown.<ref name=":4" />
Some degenerative diseases can be cured. In those that can not, it may be possible to alleviate the symptoms.<ref name=":3" />
Examples
- Alzheimer's disease (AD)<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis<ref name=":0" /> (ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease)
- Cancers<ref name=":3"/>
- Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease (CMT)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Chronic traumatic encephalopathy<ref>Template:Cite journalTemplate:Erratum</ref>
- Cystic fibrosis<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Some cytochrome c oxidase deficiencies (often the cause of degenerative Leigh syndrome)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Ehlers–Danlos syndrome<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva
- Friedreich's ataxia<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Frontotemporal dementia (FTD)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Some cardiovascular diseases (e.g. atherosclerotic ones like coronary artery disease, aortic stenosis, congenital defects etc.)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Huntington's disease<ref name=":5" />
- Infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Keratoconus (KC)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Keratoglobus<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Leukodystrophies<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Macular degeneration (AMD)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Marfan's syndrome (MFS)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Some mitochondrial myopathies<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Mueller–Weiss syndrome<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Multiple sclerosis (MS)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Multiple system atrophy<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Muscular dystrophies (MD)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Niemann–Pick diseases<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Osteoarthritis<ref name=":1">Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Osteoporosis<ref name=":1" />
- Parkinson's disease<ref name=":0" />
- Pulmonary arterial hypertension<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- All prion diseases (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, fatal familial insomnia etc.)<ref name=":0" />
- Progressive supranuclear palsy<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Retinitis pigmentosa (RP)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Rheumatoid arthritis<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Sandhoff Disease<ref name=":2">Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA, motor neuron disease)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Substance Use Disorder<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Tay–Sachs disease<ref name=":2" />
- Vascular dementia (might not itself be neurodegenerative, but often appears alongside other forms of degenerative dementia)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>