Magnetic resonance imaging of dystrophinopathy that mimics adductor enthesopathy / 北京大学学报(医学版)

Objective:To report thigh muscle magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)tests of four Chinese patients with dystrophinopathy with edema changes in adductor longus muscles that mimics adductor en-thesopathy.Methods:Four boys,who were from four unrelated families and aged from 5 to 11 years, were investigated because of the clinical manifestations including myalgia or muscle weakness or the inci-dental findings of elevated serum creatine kinase levels,and were diagnosed with dystrophinopathy by gene test of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).Their creatine kinase levels were increased from 4 087 IU /L to 32 700 IU /L (Normal range:75 -175 IU /L).The muscle biopsy of three patients all demonstrated a dystrophic pattern including necrosis,regeneration,hypertrophy,atrophy and connective tissue proliferation,with different proportions of dystrophin-negative muscle fibers.The gene test of DMD showed an out-frame deletion of exons in three of the four patients,involving either exons 45 or exons 49 -52 deletion or exon 62 duplication,and c.2665 C >T with nonsense mutation in the other one. Muscle MRI tests of the bilateral thighs were performed with T1 weighed sequence and slow tau inversion recovery sequence.The degree of fatty infiltration changes was scored.Results:MRI of the thigh mus-cles showed mild to severe fatty infiltration changes in T1 weighed sequence with the total scores from 2 to 13.The most severe fatty infiltration changes were in the long head of biceps femoris and adductor mag-nus.Obvious hyperintensities appeared mainly in the adductor longus muscles on slow tau inversion re-covery (STIR)images in all the patients without any abnormal signals in the attachment of the ligament, indicating edema changes of the adductor longus muscles which mimiced adductor enthesopathy.Two of the four patients presented with edema changes in the bilateral adductor longus muscles,while the other two were with only unilateral changes.Furthermore,other thigh muscles,including adductor magnus, semitendinosus,sartorius and rectus femoris muscles,could also have mild edema changes in two of the four patients.Conclusion:Dystrophinopathy can manifest as edema changes in the adductor longus mus-cles in thigh muscle MRI tests,which is a typical lesion in adductor enthesopathy.The adductor longus muscles in the dystrophinopathy patients may be easy to be impaired due to traction injury during sports.

Three cases of Heidenhain variant of Creutzfelt-Jakob disease with pruritus：clinical analysis and litera-ture review / 中国神经精神疾病杂志

Objective To analyze features of clinical manifestation, laboratory tests, electrophysiology and imagol?ogy of Heidenhain’s variant of Creutzfelt-Jakob disease (CJD). Methods Clinical data, laboratory and electrophysiologi?cal results as well as medical images were collected from 3 patients with Heidenhain variant of CJD. Results Three pa?tients presented with rapid visual impairment at onset and refractory pruritus. Whole gene sequencing indicated that one patient had point mutation at E200K whereas the other two did not the mutation. All the cases had positive 14-3-3 pro?tein in CSF. Patients had three phases sharp waves burst at posterior part of cerebral cortices with slow waves back?ground in EEG, no evoked P100 in visual evoked potential test,‘cortical ribbon sign’at bilateral occipital lobe in DWI sequence of head MRI and hypometabolism of glucose from occipital cortex spreading to extensive cerebral cortices in PET/CT. Conclusion Head MRI and EEG should be conducted in old patients with visual disturbance as the onset symptom, followed by rapid cognitive impairment, ataxia and extrapyramidal symptom to rule out Heidenhain variant of CJD. Refractory pruritus indicates a high likelihood of CJD.

Rheumatoid leptomeningitis: a case report and literature review / 北京大学学报(医学版)

To report the clinical, radiological and neuropathological findings of a patient with rheuma-toid meningitis. The patient was a 71-year-old Chinese man with a two-year history of rheumatoid arthritisand no other significant medical history, who presented to our hospital recurrent weakness of his left ex-tremities, dysarthria and a continuous bilateral hand tremor. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serumexam-inations were normal apart from a mildly raised serum perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody(p-ANCA). Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed leptomeningeal enhancementin both fron-tal and parietal lobes, in addition to several old white matter infarcts. Meningeal biopsy showed numerousinfiltrating macrophages and lymphocytes within the leptomeninges. The patient responded clinically andradiologically to corticosteroid and cyclophosphamide therapy. The patient subsequently developed herpeszoster over his left chest as a complication of his immunosuppressive treatment. His cyclophosphamidewas ceased and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy was commenced, with good clinical responseto both the herpes zoster and meningitis. According to the result of the biopsy, aseptic meningitis wasconsidered the MRI results and the patient’s clinical history were given, and a diagnosis of rheumatoidmeningitis was made. The patientwas p-ANCApositive. Although there was no evidence for cerebral vas-culitis on biopsy, it remains a possibility that the patient’s recurrent minor cerebral infarcts visible onMRI were vasculitic in nature.

The plasma levels of transforming growth factor beta1 and the protein expressions of alpha-SMA, urokinase plasminogen activator and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 in liver of patients with different grades of hepatic fibrosis / 中华肝脏病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To measure the plasma levels of transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1), the protein expression of alpha-SMA in hepatic stellate cells and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), and study on the relationships between the plasma levels of TGFbeta1, the protein expression and the serum hyaluronic acid (HA) in patients with different grades of hepatic fibrosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Thirty seven cases with hepatic fibrosis of different grades were classified according to HE and VG staining categories from 0 to 4, in which there were 8 cases in grade 1, 9 cases in grade 2, 7 cases in grade 3, 13 cases in grade 4. The plasma levels of TGFbeta1 and the serum levels of HA were detected by ELISA. The protein expressions of a-SMA, uPA and PAI-1 in fibrotic liver tissue were observed by immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>With the progression of hepatic fibrosis, the plasma levels of TGFbeta1 and the protein expression of a-SMA, uPA and PAI-1 in fibrotic liver tissue were increased. In grade 3 and 4, the plasma levels of TGFbeta and the protein expression of a-SMA and PAI-1 in fibrotic liver tissue were significantly increased, but the protein expression of uPA in cirrhosis liver tissue did not increased.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TGFbeta1, a-SMA, uPA and PAI-1 play an important role in the progression of hepatic fibrosis. Inhibiting the early activation of latent TGFbeta1 or increasing uPA and inhibiting PAI-1 over express may contribute to matrix degradation and retard the progression of hepatic fibrosis.</p>

Diffuse muscular calcification with subcutaneous cysts / 北京大学学报(医学版)

Objective: Diffuse muscular calcification was rare myopathological change due to abnormal metabolism of calcium, which was mainly found in dermatomyositis and myositis ossificans progressiva. Here we reported a case of diffuse muscular calcification that clinically mimicked myositis ossificans progressiva. The disease might be a new type of congenital calcium metabolic disease. Methods:A 15-year-old girl developed subcutaneous cysts in the wrist and ankle when she was 1 year old. At the age of 9, she developed recurrent fever with myalgia, fatigue and diffuse muscular calcification. It was difficult for her to squat, run or walk. Protuberance presented in the subcutaneous tissue of her trunk. Some nodules ruptured with outflow of chalky material. ESR, ENA, RF, CRP, PTH, CK were in normal limits. EMG was unremarkable. X-ray confirmed diffuse calcification in the muscle and subcutaneous tissues. Biceps muscle biopsy was performed. Results:Numerous inflammatory cells infiltrated around vessels in the perimyosium with perifascicular muscle fiber atrophy and degeneration. Many RRF and SDH positive fibers were also observed. EM showed tubular reticular inclusions in vascular endothelium. Conclusion: Diffuse muscular calcification indicated existence of systemic calcium metabolic abnormality. As the clinical symptoms and distribution pattern of calcification were different from dermatomyositis with subcutaneous calcification and myositis ossificans progressiva, our case might be a new type of disease. The microvascular changes might result in the lesion of muscle fibers.

Pathological characteristics of skeletal muscle in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective To study the pathological characteristics of skeletal muscle in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica(PMR).Methods Thirteen patients were diagnosed PMR according to the diagnostic criteria described by Bird in 1979.The onset of disease was between 49-78 years of age (median 60.3 years).All of them showed continuous symmetric myalgia with markedly elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate(ESR).Five patients had mild fever and 8 patients had elevated C-reactive protein(CRP).Electromyogram(EMG)showed myogenic pattern in 2 patients.Only 1 patient showed anemia and 2 patients had mild elevated creatinine phosphokinase.None of them showed evidence of temporal arteritis.Biceps brachii muscle biopsies were performed in all patients before corticosteroid therapy.Results The typeⅡmuscle fiber atrophy was observed in all patients.Moth-eaten changes appeared in 8 cases,increased intramuscular lipid drops in 8 cases and ragged red fibers(RRF)in 3 cases of them.After steroid therapy,all patients showed improvement of myalgia and normal ESR as well as CRP.Conclusions The main symptoms of the patients are myalgia and abnormal ESR.Some patients have high level of CRP and abnormal EMG.Anemia and temporal arteritis are less frequent.The main myopathological changes were typeⅡmuscle fiber atrophy.Some patients have moth-eaten changes.More lipid drops and RRF indicate abnormal metabolism of skeletal muscle.