Comedian Gilbert Gottfried has died: What is myotonic dystrophy type II?

Gilbert Gottfried, known for his distinctive voice, has died at the age of 67, his family announced on social media.

His family did not specify the cause of his death, but his friend and publicist Glenn Schwartz said that he experienced recurrent ventricular tachycardia.

Muscular Dystrophy is a group of diseases that cause muscles to grow weaker and lose mass over time. The disease is characterized by myotonia, which makes it difficult to relax a muscle after you tense it, and it can occur in the 20s and 30s.

According to GARD, the disease is caused by a gene. According to the Uniprot database, the instructions to build aProtein that Binds to DNA andRNA are contained in the CNBP.

A person needs just one copy of the mutated gene to develop myotonic dystrophy type II, meaning the disease is inherited in an Autosomal dominant pattern, according to GARD.

The heart and skeletal muscle are the main places where the CNBP is found. According to GARD, the symptoms of muscular dystrophy can be caused by cells that build messenger RNA that clump together and interfere with the production of other proteins.

Myotonic dystrophy type II affects muscles in the neck, fingers, elbows and hips, causing muscle pain and weakness. The electrical system that controls heartbeat can be affected by the condition, but it's usually not.

Damage to heart muscle cells can cause the tissue to scar and disrupt the electrical pathways that normally direct the movement of the heart's chambers.

Schwartz said that he experienced arrhythmia, a type of abnormal heart rhythm, when the lower chambers of the heart beat too quickly. This abnormal rhythm undermines the ability of the heart to deliver enough oxygenated blood to the body.

Ventricular tachycardia is not necessarily dangerous. When the abnormal heart rhythm persists for too long, it can cause lightheadedness and fainting, due to a drop in blood pressure, and it can also cause cardiac arrest and ventricular fibrillation, an extremely rapid and life-threatening type of arrhythmia.

In order to manage the arrhythmia related to their condition, people with myotonic dystrophy type II sometimes need an ICD.

It was originally published on Live Science.