also reduce cholesterol levels. Heart medications: Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, diuretics, digoxin and beta-blockers may help with the management of cardiomyopathy and heart failure. Prognosis A prognosis for Alström syndrome is complicated because it widely varies. Any person that has the syndrome have different set of disorders. Permanent blindness, deafness and type 2 diabetes may occur. Liver and kidney failure can progressively get worse. The life expectancy is usually reduced and the patients rarely live past 50 years old. Research The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, USA with the University of Southampton, UK isolated the single gene (ALMS1) responsible for Alström syndrome. Research was conducted in 2014 on Alström syndrome patients regarding degeneration and plasticity of the optic pathway. The functional and structural changes have been investigated on the optic pathway in Alström syndrome by using magnetic resonance imaging to provide better insight on the underlying pathogenic mechanisms. Eleven patients with the syndrome (mean age of 23 years, 5 females, 6 males) underwent a brain MRI. The protocol also included conventional sequences, resting-state functional MRI and diffusion tensor imaging. Results found that patients with Alström syndrome had occipital regions with decreased white matter volume as well as decreased gray matter volume sparing the occipital poles. The diffused fractional anisotropy decreased and the radial diffusivity increased while mean and axial diffusivities were normal. Lastly, the reduced connectivity in the medial visual network was strikingly sparing the occipital poles. The conclusion of the research was that the protean occipital brain changes in patients with Alström syndrome. They are likely to reflect coexistence of diffuse primary myelin derangement, anterograde trans-synaptic degeneration and complex cortical reorganization that affect the posterior and anterior visual cortex. References Further reading External links Ciliopathy Syndromes with obesity Syndromes with sensorineural hearing loss Syndromes affecting the retina Syndromes including diabetes mellitus Rare genetic syndromes Diseases named for discoverer