Difference between revisions of "Neuromuscular pathology"

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***Usually in the centroidal location.
***Usually in the centroidal location.


DDx: polymyositis.
DDx:  
*[[Polymyositis]].


===IHC===  
===IHC===  

Revision as of 05:01, 1 March 2012

Neuromuscular pathology is the study of muscle and neurologic disease associated with muscle dysfunction. It is a part of neuropathology.

Muscle pathology is dealt together with neurologic disease as, at the presentation, they are not infrequently impossible to definitely distinguish.

Work-up

General

  1. Clinical history, including family history.
  2. Laboratory studies, e.g. CK.
  3. Nerve conduction and electromyography studies.
  4. Muscle biopsy.

Clinical

  • Fasciculations - small involuntary muscle contraction, imply lower motor neuron lesion.
  • Reflexes - see physical examination.
  • Strength.

Laboratory studies

The CK suggest the type of disorder:[1]

  • High ~200-300X normal -- suggests myogenic.
  • Intermedidate ~20-30X normal -- possibly inflammatory.
  • Low ~2-5X normal -- possibly neurogenic.

Notes:

  • The CK value is most useful when it is very high.[2]
  • Normal CK values:[3]
    • Men: 24-195 unit/litre.
    • Women: 24-170 units/litre.

Muscle structure/histology

Macro to micro

Organization:[4]

  • Muscle - surrounded by epimysium.
    • Fascicle - surrounded by perimysium.
      • Muscle fibre - muscle cell.
        • Myofibrils - contractile elements within the muscle cell.

Notes:

  • This is similar for nerves:[5]
    • Nerve (surrounded by epineurium) -> Fascicle (surrounded by perineurium) -> Nerve fibre (surrounded by endoneurium).

Fibre types

 
 
 
Types
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Type 1
slow twitch
 
 
 
Type 2
fast twitch

List

Type 1 - AKA slow twitch:

  • Predominantly oxidative metabolism, i.e. have lots of mitochondria.

Type 2 - AKA fast twitch:

  • Predominantly glycolytic metabolism.

Mnemonic Slow red fat ox: Slow twitch fibres are (grossly) more red (due to mitochondria), lipid rich (fat) and primarily have oxidative metabolism.

Normal findings

Muscle-tendon junction

Features:

Muscle-nerve junction

Features:

  • Dunno. (???)

Images:

Muscle spindle

Features:

  • Weird looking muscle cell. (???)

Image: Muscle spindle (anhb.uwa.edu.au).[7]

Abnormal findings

Iatrogenic

  • Torn (muscle) fibres (in the process of extraction for examination):
    • Membrane intact.
    • Myofibril kaputt.
    • No inflammation.

Pathologic

Others:

Approach

General:

  1. Size variation - in groups (neurogenic) vs. singular (myogenic).
  2. Shape - angulated (neurogenic) vs. round (myogenic).
  3. Position of nuclei - peripheral (normal); central (myogenic; centronuclear myopathy[8]).
  4. Necrosis - suggests myogenic.
  5. Fibrosis - suggests myogenic.
  6. Inflammation - suggest myogenic vs. systemic inflammatory.

Other:

  1. Obvious abnormality vs. minimal change.
  2. Diffuse vs. focal change.

Processing of muscle biopsies

  1. Formalin fixed (formalin fixed-paraffin embedded).
  2. Frozen tissue for histology.
  3. Frozen tissue for biochemistry.
  4. Fragment for electron microscopy (glutaraldehyde fixed).

SMH labeling

  • "E" = "frozens"; done on frozen tissue.
    • IHC done on these.
    • May have the label "2" ... even though there is no part 2.
  • Blue slides = "plastics", i.e. plastic embedded.
    • Stained with methylene blue.[9] vs. toluidine blue. (???)
    • Thin sections: 0.1 - 1 micrometres.
  • Normal SMH numbering = "paraffin".

Patterns (pathologic)

Overview

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Neuromuscular
pathology
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Neurogenic
 
 
Myogenic
 
 
Other/Mixed
Neurogenic Myogenic Notes Image
Shape of fibres angulated round round fibres[10]
Small fibres groups
("group atrophy")
singular group atrophy[11]
Large fibres
no +/-scattered "hypercontracted
fibres"
DMD (WC)
Fibre type
grouping
yes (d/t chronic
denervation +
reinnervation)[12]
yes (???) based on ATPase,
NADH-TR stains
ATPase 9.4[13], NADH-TR[14]

List

Neurogenic:

  • Angulated myocytes.
  • Groups of small fibres.
  • Apparent increase of nuclei.

Myogenic:

  • Round myocytes.
  • +/-Intense (darker) cytoplasm.
  • +/-Fibrosis (between fibres).
  • +/-Necrosis.

Detail

  1. Segmental demyelination - nerve/CNS abnormality.
  2. Axonal degeneration - nerve/CNS abnormality.
  3. Reinnervation - nerve injury.
  4. Myopathy - something is wrong with the muscle fibres.

Stains for muscle biopsies

Standard

Stain Comment Image
H&E stain routine H&E[15], H&E (WC)
Gomori trichrome good for nemaline rods,
mitochondrial pathology
(ragged red fibres - at edge
of myocyte)
RRF (WC)
PAS glycogen storage disorders [1][16]
Congo red find amyloid; seen in
inclusion body myositis
[2][17]
Oil red O lipid more in
type 1 fibres
ORO
ATPase pH4.2
ATPase pH9.4
should have "checkerboard
pattern" in normal; see table below
[3][18]
NADH-TR should have "checkerboard
pattern" in normal;
type 1 fibres = light blue,
type 2 fibres = white

ATPase stain pattern/fibre type

Type 1
slow twitch
Type 2
fast twitch
pH 4.2 dark light
pH 9.4 light dark

Special - mitochondrial pathology

Stain Comment Image
Succinate
dehydrogenase (SDH)
stains mitochondria;
usu. +ve in mitochondrial disease[19]
[4][20], SDH (WC)
Cytochrome oxidase (COX) stains mitochondria;
usu. -ve in mitochondrial disease
[5][20]
COX-SDH used to look for mitochondrial disease

Enzymatic/genetic stuff

Stain Comment Image
Phosphorylase
Adenylate deaminase
Acid phosphatase (ACPH) necrosis (red)
Alkaline phosphatase (ALPH) regeneration (punctate - black)

Dunno:

IHC

  • Dystrophy panel.
    • Dystrophin[22] - Duchenne muscular dystrophy (onset usu. <3 years), Becker's muscular dystrophy (onset usu. 20s or 30s).
      • Membranous staining is normal. Loss of membranous staining = pathologic.
        • Tested with three antibodies -- as the protein is hueuge.
    • Spectrin - a cause of long QT syndrome. (???)
  • Lymphocytic markers (CD45, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD20).
  • MAC - inclusion body myositis.
  • APP - inclusion body myositis (?), axonal swellings.
  • Ubquitin - inclusion body myositis.
  • TDP-43 (also TDP43) - cytoplasmic staining in IBM.

List of common conditions

Neurogenic:

Myopathic:

Other:

Groups of disorders

Inflammatory myopathy

DDx:

  1. Polymyositis.
    • Disease of adults.
  2. Inclusion body myositis (IBM).
  3. Dermatomyositis.
    • May be associated with malignancy.

Partial invasion of muscle fibres

DDx:[23]

Images:

Muscular dystrophy

General

  • DDx: large.

A short DDx:

  • Duchenne's muscular dystrophy.[24]
  • Becker's muscular dystrophy.
  • Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy.
    • Lotsa different mutations, autosomal dominant and recessive variants.
  • Myotonic dystrophy.[25][26]

Microscopic

Features:

  • Endomysial fibrosis.
  • Hypercontracted fibres (large muscle fibres).

Images:

Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy

General

  • A group of muscular dystrophies with childhood or adult onset.[27]
  • Rare.
  • Usually autosomal recessive.
  • Treatment: none; supportive only.

Subtypes

  • Sarcoglycanopathy.
  • Calpainopahty.
  • Dysferlinopathy.

Notes:

  • Can be demonstrated with IHC.

DDx

  • DMD gene associated MDs (Duchenne MD, Becker MD).
  • Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).
  • Emery-Dreifuss MD (EDMD).
  • Congenital MD (CMD).
  • Inflammatory myopathies.

Mitochondrial disorders

General

  • Onset childhood to adulthood.
  • Heteroplasmy - variable distribution of badness within affected individuals.
    • Leads to "threshold effect".

Microscopic

  • Trichrome most useful - find the ragged red fibres - usu. at the cell periphery.
  • COX-SDH:
    • Non-staining (???).
    • Peripheral blue accumulation in occasional cells.

EM

Features:

  • Crystalloid inclusions.[28]
  • "Ballooned" mitochondria; loss of cristae -- loss of membranous folds within mitochrondrion.

Type 2 fibre atrophy

General

DDx:

  • Disuse.
  • Space travel.
  • Steroids.
  • Others.

Microscopic

Features:

  • Atrophy for type 2 atrophy.

Images:

Specific entities

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

  • Abbreviated ALS.

General

  • Abbreviated ALS.
  • Affects - corticospinal tract - gliosis.

Microscopic

Features:

  • Neurogenic pattern:
    • Group atrophy.
    • +/-Target fibres.

Dermatomyositis

For the skin manifestations see: Inflammatory_skin_disorders#Dermatomyositis.

General

  • Complement mediated disease - membrane attack complex.
  • Usually middle age.
  • Associated skin rash is common.
    • May precede or follow muscle pathology.
  • Associated with malignancy in approximately 10% of cases.[29]

Clinical

  • If the characteristic skin lesions are absent... it is likely idiopathic inflammatory myositis and related to diabetes mellitus.[30]

Microscopic

Features:

  • Perifascicular inflammation with perifascicular atrophy - key feature.
  • Loss of vessels around muscle fibres.
    • Vessels should be where more than 3 or more fibres are opposed to one another.

Images:

EM

  • Endothelial tubuloreticular inclusions (abbrev. TRIs) - undulating tubules in the smooth ER, usu. perinuclear;[31] not pathognomonic - may be seen in inclusion body myositis.[32]

Images:

Inclusion body myositis

General

  • Usually elderly.
  • Thought to be related to Alzheimer's disease due to similar staining with congo red and several IHC stains.[33]

Microscopic

Features:

  • Inflammation.
  • Vacuolated muscle fibres (with proteineous aggregates) key feature.
    • Vacuolation = "inclusion"
      • Usually in the centroidal location.

DDx:

IHC

Features:[33]

  • Congo red +ve.
  • APP +ve, ubiquitin +ve, tau +ve. (???)

EM

  • Inclusion bodies - tubulovescicular material.[34]

Polymyositis

General

  • Tx: steroids.

Microscopic

Features:[35]

  • Lymphocytes - may be in large clusters.
    • "Partial invasion" - lymphocytes within the muscle fibres - key feature.
  • Regenerating fibres with enlarged nuclei.

DDx:

Images:

IHC

Features:[35]

  • T cells > B cells.
    • Endomysial - T cells.
    • Perimysial - B cells.

Myotonic dystrophy

Microscopic

Features:

  • Internal nuclei/central nuclei.

Nemaline myopathy

General

  • A type of congenital myopathy.
  • Paediatric thingy.

Drug-induced rhabdomyolysis

  • AKA drug-induced acute necrotizing myopathy.

General

Clinical:[36]

  • Myalgias.
  • Myoglobinuria.
  • Increased elevated serum creatine kinase (CK).

Causes:

  • Ecstasy (MDMA).
  • Statins.

Microscopic

Features:

  • Muscle necrosis.
    • Fibre collapse = increased staining on H&E, HPS.
    • Karyolysis - loss of nuclei.
    • Macrophage (phagocytosis) clean-up = pale moth-eaten appearance (seen well on PAS).
  • No inflammation.
  • No perifascicular atrophy.

Images:

Stains

  • PAS +ve fibres (macrophages).

IHC

  • CD45 -ve (no lymphocytes).

EM

Trichinosis

See Microorganisms.

Parasitic disease classically associated with consumption of uncooked pork.

Nerve stuff

General

  • Most common biopsy: sural nerve.

Stains

Myelin stain:

  • Blue = myelin.

Gomori trichrome:

  • Axon = green.
  • Myelin = red.

Degenerative changes

Types:[37]

  • Wallerian degeneration.
  • Axonal degeneration.
  • Segmental demyelination.

Wallerian degeneration

  • Digestion chambers - key feature.

Images:

Diseases

  • Guillain–Barré syndrome.
  • Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).[38]
    • Essentially chronic Guillain–Barré syndrome.
  • Toxic polyneuropathy (drug toxicity).[39]

See also

References

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  2. Filosto M, Tonin P, Vattemi G, et al. (January 2007). "The role of muscle biopsy in investigating isolated muscle pain". Neurology 68 (3): 181–6. doi:10.1212/01.wnl.0000252252.29532.cc. PMID 17224570.
  3. URL: http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/simplepage.cfm?ID=1436155929. Accessed on: 27 October 2010.
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External links