Results of muscle biopsies from cases of progressive muscular weakness

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted at the Children's Hospital and the Institute of Child Health, Lahore from Dec. 1996 to Nov. 1997 to look for the histological diagnosis of children presenting with progressive muscle weakness. Seventeen patients were included in the study. Open muscle biopsies were taken from calf, deltoid and vastus lateralis muscles according to the involvement of muscle groups. There were 13 males and 4 females. Biopsy specimens were stained with haematoxylin and eosin and read by senior histopathologists. Muscular dystrophy was the most common diagnosis accounting for 10/17 [59 percent] cases. Duchenne muscular dystrophy was the commonest 8/10 followed by Fascioscapulo-humeral 1/10 and Limb-Girdle type 1/10. Myositis was the 2nd common diagnosis 4/17 [23.5 percent] comprising of polymyositis and dermatomyositis 2 each. Spinal muscular atrophy was seen in 3/17 patients. There is a need to develop better diagnostic fascilities and multidisciplinary approach toward these cases