Neuromuscular disorders : NMD
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Neuromuscul. Disord. · Jun 2015
Case ReportsTransthyretin V122I amyloidosis with clinical and histological evidence of amyloid neuropathy and myopathy.
Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is a genetically and clinically heterogeneous disease manifesting with predominant peripheral and autonomic neuropathy; cardiomyopathy, or both. ATTR V122I is the most common variant associated with non-neuropathic familial amyloid cardiomyopathy. We present an unusual case of V122I amyloidosis with features of amyloid neuropathy and myopathy, supported by histological confirmation in both sites and diffuse tracer uptake on (99m)Tc-3,3-Diphosphono-1,2-Propanodicarboxylic acid (DPD) scintigraphy throughout skeletal and cardiac muscle. ⋯ The patient is being treated with diflunisal, an oral TTR stabilising agent. Symptomatic myopathy and neuropathy with confirmation of tissue amyloid deposition has not previously been described. Extracardiac amyloidosis has implications for diagnosis and treatment.
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Neuromuscul. Disord. · May 2015
Case ReportsBAG3 myofibrillar myopathy presenting with cardiomyopathy.
Myofibrillar myopathies (MFMs) are a heterogeneous group of neuromuscular disorders distinguished by the pathological hallmark of myofibrillar dissolution. Most patients present in adulthood, but mutations in several genes including BCL2-associated athanogene 3 (BAG3) cause predominantly childhood-onset disease. BAG3-related MFM is particularly severe, featuring weakness, cardiomyopathy, neuropathy, and early lethality. ⋯ Similar to previous cases, a p. Pro209Leu mutation in exon 3 of BAG3 was found. This case underlines the importance of evaluating for MFMs in patients with combined neuromuscular weakness and cardiomyopathy.
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Neuromuscul. Disord. · Mar 2015
Motor unit loss estimation by the multipoint incremental MUNE method in children with spinal muscular atrophy--a preliminary study.
Quantitative EMG reflects denervation of muscles after lower motor neuron degeneration in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) but does not reflect actual motor unit loss. The aim of our study was to assess the value of the multipoint incremental motor unit number estimation (MUNE) method in the modification by Shefner in estimating motor unit loss in SMA. The number of motor units, the mean amplitude of an average surface-detected single motor unit potential (SMUP), and the amplitude of compound motor action potentials (CMAP) were estimated in 14 children with SMA in the abductor pollicis brevis (ABP). ⋯ Increased SMUP amplitude values correlated with decreased HFMS scores (P < 0.05). The study confirms that MUNE method in the modification by Shefner is a useful tool reflecting motor unit loss in SMA, and it is easy to perform and well tolerated. MUNE and SMUP amplitude seemed to be sensitive parameters reflecting motor dysfunction in SMA but a longitudinal study in a larger number of subjects is needed.
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Neuromuscul. Disord. · Feb 2015
Case ReportsNew disease allele and de novo mutation indicate mutational vulnerability of titin exon 343 in hereditary myopathy with early respiratory failure.
We report two patients of Chinese ancestry with hereditary myopathy with early respiratory failure, one sporadic with atypical onset as rigid spine syndrome, the other familial with 10 years' history of hyperCKemia. Muscle biopsy was either nonspecific or typical with cytoplasmic bodies and rimmed vacuoles. Despite the phenotypic variety, both patients showed fatty infiltration of semitendinosus on muscle magnetic resonance imaging. ⋯ Haplotype analysis of case 2 revealed a heterozygous missense mutation [c.90211T>C, p. C30071R] on a new disease allele incompatible with the British common haplotype. These findings suggest that hereditary myopathy with early respiratory failure is a worldwide distributed disorder and indicate the mutational vulnerability of TTN exon 343 in which de novo mutations could occur on different haplotype backgrounds.
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Neuromuscul. Disord. · Jan 2015
Case ReportsImplantation of a left ventricular assist device as a destination therapy in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients with end stage cardiac failure: management and lessons learned.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is an X-linked recessive disorder, characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, loss of ambulation, and death secondary to cardiac or respiratory failure. End-stage dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a frequent finding in DMD patients, they are rarely candidates for cardiac transplantation. Recently, the use of ventricular assist devices as a destination therapy (DT) as an alternative to cardiac transplantation in DMD patients has been described. ⋯ The most frequent were bleeding and difficulty in weaning from mechanical ventilation. Our standard protocol includes: 1) preoperative multidisciplinary evaluation and selection, 2) preoperative and postoperative non-invasive ventilation and cough machine cycles, 3) intraoperative use of near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and transesophageal echocardiography, 4) attention on surgical blood loss, use of tranexamic acid and prothrombin complexes, 5) early extubation and 6) avoiding the use of nasogastric feeding tubes and nasal temperature probes. Our case reports describe the use of Jarvik 2000 as a destination therapy in young patients emphasizing the use of ventricular assist devices as a new therapeutic option in DMD.