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What is PDCD
Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency (PDCD) is a rare disorder that disrupts an individual’s ability to convert pyruvate, which mostly comes from carbohydrates, into energy. This causes both a lack of energy… Continue reading
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Meet Anderson
Anderson began showing signs of infantile-onset PDCD when he about eight months old. Thankfully his observant and worried mother, Lana, noticed that her infant had a strange flicker in his eyes and that he was… Continue reading
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Additional Resources
If you are looking for some more in depth information, there is a great Medscape article about Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency. Continue reading
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About the Foundation
The Andy Mitchell Foundation is inspired by a mother’s successful campaign to help her son live with PDCD. Anderson is just like many other 22-year olds he shares his house with friends, drives… Continue reading
Welcome to PDCD.org
If you are looking for information about Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency (PDCD), sometimes also abbreviated to PDHC deficiency, you have come to the right place.
We also refer to PDCD as Andy Mitchell’s disorder because few parents or physicians are aware of the either the condition or the name Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex Deficiency. By lending his name, Andy Mitchell hopes to make people aware that someone is living a normal life with PDCD.
PDCD is a rare, genetically-determined metabolic disorder that usually presents at birth or in early childhood. Children with PDCD have a defect in the enzyme complex pyruvate dehydrogenase, which is needed for the cellular metabolism of carbohydrates to energy.
PDCD is an “orphan disease”. It has not been “adopted” by the pharmaceutical industry because it provides little financial incentive to research, develop and market new medications to treat or prevent it. This is why so little is known about the different types of PDCD or their response to different treatment programs. The Andy Mitchell Foundation believes that new information about the causes, management and prognosis of PDCD could be waiting to be discovered, and that by working together, parents and professionals provide the best way to gather and research information that could help control this disorder.