Periodic hypokalemic paralysis disclosing thyrotoxicosis

BACKGROUND: Hypokaliemic periodic paralysis is an uncommon complication of hyperthyroidism occurring sporadically almost exclusively in young Asian men. The clinical presentation is the same as in familial hypokaliemic periodic paralysis. Treatment consists of conventional management for thyrotoxicosis. CASE REPORT: A Laotian man aged 42 years had suffered episodes of pain and fatigue in the lower limbs lasting 2 to 7 days over the last few months. The patient was hospitalized with severe limb pain. Clinical examination found severe motor deficit involving all four limbs. Laboratory findings induced hypokaliemia (1.8 mmol/l) and hyperthyroidism (free thyroxin 36 pmol/l, TSH < 0.005 mlU/l). Thyroid echography revealed multinodular goitre with two heterogeneous nodules. Strong uptake was seen on the scintigram. The motor deficit regressed within 8 hours and the kaliemia was restored with 1.50 g KCl. The patient was discharged with carbimazole (30 mg/d). Three months later he was euthyroid and symptom free. Total thyroidectomy was performed and L-thyroxin prescribed. The patient remains symptom-free at the last follow-up, 5 months after thyroidectomy. DISCUSSION: The pathogenesis of hypokaliemic periodic paralysis involves the ATPase-dependent sodium-potassium pump whose activity is stimulated by thyroid hormones. The reasons for the ethnic and male predominance are poorly elucidated

Nemaline bodies as unique pathological feature in the course of treated dermatomyositis.

Dermatomyositis was diagnosed on clinical and muscle histological criteria in a 42-year-old woman. Despite treatment, the patient complained of deterioration of her muscle condition. Since her symptoms were discordant with the rest of the data, muscle biopsy was performed and disclosed rod-bearing non-atrophic fibers as the unique and predominant pathological feature. Their significance is examined in this paper

Myopathy caused by anoctamin 5 mutations and necrotizing vasculitis

International audienc

Expanding the MTM1 mutational spectrum: novel variants including the first multi-exonic duplication and development of a locus-specific database

Myotubular myopathy (MIM#310400), the X-linked form of Centronuclear myopathy (CNM) is mainly characterized by neonatal hypotonia and inability to maintain unassisted respiration. The MTM1 gene, responsible for this disease, encodes myotubularin - a lipidic phosphatase involved in vesicle trafficking regulation and maturation. Recently, it was shown that myotubularin interacts with desmin, being a major regulator of intermediate filaments. We report the development of a locus-specific database for MTM1 using the Leiden Open Variation database software (http://www.lovd.nl/MTM1), with data collated for 474 mutations identified in 472 patients (by June 2012). Among the entries are a total of 25 new mutations, including a large deletion encompassing introns 2-15. During database implementation it was noticed that no large duplications had been reported. We tested a group of eight uncharacterized CNM patients for this specific type of mutation, by multiple ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) analysis. A large duplication spanning exons 1-5 was identified in a boy with a mild phenotype, with results pointing toward possible somatic mosaicism. Further characterization revealed that this duplication causes an in-frame deletion at the mRNA level (r.343_444del). Results obtained with a next generation sequencing approach suggested that the duplication extends into the neighboring MAMLD1 gene and subsequent cDNA analysis detected the presence of a MTM1/MAMLD1 fusion transcript. A complex rearrangement involving the duplication of exon 10 has since been reported, with detection also enabled by MLPA analysis. It is thus conceivable that large duplications in MTM1 may account for a number of CNM cases that have remained genetically unresolved