This is due to hormone changes throughout their life, especially during pregnancy, where muscles around the pelvis, including piriformis muscles, tense up to stabilize the area for birth. In 2011, out of 263 patients between the ages of 45 to 84 treated for piriformis syndrome, 53.3% were female. Females are two times more likely to develop piriformis syndrome than males. Moreover, females had longer stay in hospital during 2011 due to high prevalence of the pain in females. The average cost of treatment was $29,070 for hospitalizing average 4 days. References
Further reading
Jassal, Navdeep Singh (2017). "Piriformis Muscle Syndrome". In Pope, Jason E.; Deer, Timothy R (eds.). Treatment of Chronic Pain Conditions. pp. 269–71. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-6976-0_78. ISBN 978-1-4939-6974-6. == External links ==
Skeletal abnormalities and short stature are characteristics that can be used to support the diagnosis. The gene responsible for the disease has been identified and genetic testing is now available. Management
Pancreatic exocrine insufficiency may be treated through pancreatic enzyme supplementation, while severe skeletal abnormalities may require surgical intervention. Neutropenia may be treated with granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF) to boost peripheral neutrophil counts. However, there is ongoing and unresolved concern that this drug could contribute to the development of leukemia. Signs of progressive marrow failure may warrant bone marrow transplantation (BMT). This has been used successfully to treat hematological aspects of disease. However, SDS patients have an elevated occurrence of BMT-related adverse events, including graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and toxicity relating to the pre-transplant conditioning regimen. In the long run, study of the gene that is mutated in SDS should improve understanding of the molecular basis of disease. This, in turn, may lead to novel therapeutic strategies, including gene therapy and other gene- or protein-based approaches. Research
A major goal of curative therapy for SDS is to reduce the risk of bone marrow failure and halt the progression of malignant transformation toward myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most detrimental complications of SDS. Currently, there is no such therapy. However, several emerging therapeutic strategies, including gene therapy and antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), could potentially slow or prevent malignant transformation, at least in theory. These new therapies have been proven effective for several rare diseases, including metachromatic leukodystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy.