Research progress of axial myopathy / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Axial myopathy is a general term for a group of myopathy involving the axial muscles. It refers to a group of skeletal myopathy in which paraspinal muscles are individually or significantly affected, with or without the involvement of whole body skeletal muscles. Axial muscle weakness is often ignored in clinical practice. The evaluation of axial muscle is mainly the evaluation of the paraspinal muscles (erector spinae) in current literature. The clinical manifestations of paraspinal muscle weakness are dropped head syndrome and camptocormia. Physical examination and skeletal muscle magnetic resonance imaging, especially the whole body muscle magnetic resonance scan, are vital for the evaluation of axial muscle. It is of great clinical significance to increase attention to the diagnosis and differentiation of axial myopathy, which is helpful to avoid missing treatable diseases and improve the understanding and early recognition of associated myopath.