Stefano Zanigni, MD

• Clinica Neurologica, Dipartimento di Scienze
• Neurologiche, Universit? di Bologna,
• Bologna, Italy

Fixed pupils menopause effexor xr order 50 mg female viagra, optic atrophy; and nystagmus and endocrinopathies menopause joint pain natural remedies female viagra 100 mg purchase on-line, epilepsy women's health clinic kingston order female viagra amex, and spina bifida women's health clinic paso robles generic female viagra 100 mg, which have been reported occasionally in association with peroneal muscular atrophy; probably represent coincidental con genital disorders women's health center in shelton ct buy generic female viagra on-line. The only distinguishing clinical fea ture between types 1 and 2, and this is present in only a minority of cases, is perhaps enlargement of the nerves in type 1, most easily appreciated by palpation of the greater auricular and peroneal nerves. Restricted forms are known to affect only the peroneal and pectoral or scapular muscles (scapuloperoneal form). Genetic Features and Genetic Testing Aspects of the genetic causes of these diseases were addressed in the introductory comments and here it is emphasized that a few basic principles apply. First, only a small number of cases of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease arise as de novo mutations (Hoogendijk et al). Second, different mutations in the same gene can give rise to more than one type of disease. Undoubtedly, further studies of genes and gene products will continue to advance our understanding of the inherited neuropathies. Electromyographers appropriately refer to these, respectively, as the demyelinating and axonal types. As far as one can tell, axons and myelin sheaths are both affected, the distal parts of the nerve more than the proximal ones. Anterior hom cells are slightly diminished in number and some are chromatolyzed as a secondary change. The disease involves sensory posterior root fibers with degeneration of the posterior columns of Goll more than of Burdach. Some of the larger fibers have a target appear ance and may show degenerative changes. Former claims of a coincidental myelopathy and degeneration of spinocerebellar and corticospinal tracts probably indicate that the associated disease was really Friedreich ataxia or some other combination of chronic myelopathy and neuropathy. Stabilizing the ankles by arthrodeses is indicated if foot-drop is severe and the disease has reached the point where it is not pro gressing. Pediatric orthopedic specialists have experience with several techniques to stabilize the joints of weakened limbs. In mild and early cases, fit ting the legs with light braces and the shoes with springs to overcome foot-drop can be helpful. Nerve biopsies from these patients are most remarkable for the presence of localized nerve sheath thickening with duplication of the myelin lamellae (so-called tomaculae, meaning sausage shaped). It begins in childhood or infancy, earlier than the typical form of peroneal muscular atrophy. Pain and paresthesias in the feet are early symptoms, followed by the development of symmetrical weakness and wasting of the distal portions of the limbs. All modalities of sensa tion are impaired in a distal distribution, and the tendon reflexes are absent. Miotic, unreactive pupils, nystagmus, and kyphoscoliosis have been observed in some cases. The ulnar, median, radial, posterior tibial and peroneal nerves stand out like tendons and are easily followed with the gently roving finger. Nerve conduction velocities are markedly reduced, even when there is little or no functional impairment. Patients are usually more disabled than those with peroneal muscular atrophy and are confined to wheelchairs at an early age. It is important to emphasize that the occurrence of hypertrophic neuropathy is not confined to this particular inherited disease. If one groups all patients in whom the nerves are diffusely enlarged (incorrectly called "hyper trophic" as it is mainly a nonspecific reaction of the epi neural and perineural connective tissue that contributes to the bulk of the nerves), several diseases, both genetic and acquired, are included. The identifying histologic lesion in these cases is the "onion bulb," which consists of a whorl of overlapping, intertwined, attenuated Schwarm cell processes that encircle naked or finely myelinated axons and of endoneuria! As was first pointed out by Thomas, any pathologic process that causes recur rent segmental demyelination and subsequent repair and remyelination may have this effect. In some patients with a history of early childhood hereditary polyneuropathy, the nerves are not yet palpably enlarged, but the charac teristic Schwarm cell abnormalities are revealed in biopsy material from a cutaneous nerve. In these indi viduals, the focal neuropathies and plexopathies are gen erally not painful (in contrast with related conditions of hereditary neuralgic amyotrophy discussed further on). Electrophysiologic studies are abnormal, but may be only subtly so, with some slow ing of conduction and distal motor and sensory nerve abnormalities, particularly across sites of compression. From a neurobiologic perspective, it is intriguing that both Dejerine-Sottas and Roussy-Levy syndromes are linked to a recessively inherited loss of the myelin protein and paronychias are uncommon. Some patients have a mild pes cavus and weakness of the peroneal and pretibial muscles, with foot-drop and steppage gait. However, it has also become apparent that nearly identical clinical syndromes are associated with mutations exceptionally, the pain may last for days or longer and be disabling as that of tabes dorsalis; however, in the major ity of patients there is no pain whatsoever. Although the early-onset cases show marked slowing of nerve conduction, the adult ones have conduction veloci ties that are typically above in the genes for In that case, which was studied postmortem, there was a loss of small nerve cells in the lumbosacral dorsal root ganglia; the of the spinal cord and those in the peripheral nerves umns were diminished in number. Both axonal degeneration and segmental demyelination have been demonstrated in teased nerve preparations. Many other insights into the genetic and structural alterations of this vast category of disease have been revealed and can be appreciated from reading subspecialty texts on the subject, including the chapters by Amato and Russell and the monograph by Klein, Xuan and Shy; and the study by Saporta and coworkers, which are recommended. Because similar symptoms and signs occur in syringomyelia, leprosy, and tabes dorsalis, there is considerable uncer tainty in older writings on this subject as to whether the reported cases were examples of one of these diseases or of hereditary neuropathy. Onset is in infancy and early childhood and walking is delayed; there is pes cavus deformity and the first move ments are ataxic. Ulcerations of the tips of toes and fingers and repeated infections of these parts result in the forma tion of paronychias and whitlows. All sensory modali pain-temperature), mainly in the distal parts of the limbs but also over the. In addition, there are reports of several sibships in which multiple members had a sensory ties are impaired (touch-pressure somewhat more than trunk (mal perforant du pied). The lesions and electrophysi ologic findings are similar to those in the dominantly inherited sensory neuropathy described previously. In all types of hereditary sensory neuropathies, measures must be taken to prevent stress fractures, acral mutilation, and infection. It is also now evident that some of the infantile hereditary sensory neuropathies are a result of a disrup tion of molecular signaling pathways for neurotropic substances, such as nerve growth factor, that are critical to neural development. The characteristic features of this group of polyneuropathies of symptoms in the second decade or later. As the disease evolves, there is involvement of the feet with calluses of the soles and, later, episodes of blistering, ulceration, and lymphangitis followed by osteomyelitis and osteolysis, shooting pains, distal sensory loss with greater affection of pain and thermal sensation than of touch and pressure, loss of sweating, diminution or absence of tendon reflexes, and only slight loss of muscle power. Over time, loss of pain sensation in the fingers leads to fingertip ulcer ations, osteomyelitis, and amputations. The plantar ulcer overlying the head of a metatarsal bone is the most dreaded complication, because it often leads to osteomyelitis. During childhood, one of the patients of Swanson and colleagues had high fever when the environmental temperature was raised and the other had orthostatic hypotension. One of the patients died in his twelfth year and was found to have an absence of small neurons in the dorsal root ganglia, an absence of lissauer tracts, and a decrease in size of the descending spinal tracts of the trigeminal nerves. Whereas the usual cutaneous lipomas have no neurologic accompaniments, this clinical curiosity, known as Launois Bensaude disease, consists of symmetrical lipomas of the neck and shoulders that are associated with polyneuropathy and sometimes, deafness. The main presentation of this disorder is of slowly progres sive motor and pronounced sensory loss in the legs due to an axonal polyneuropathy, neurogenic bladder, and a degree of upper motor neuron signs that may also be evi dent. It is the early appearance of the urinary difficulties or the upper motor neuron features that mark the illness as unusual in relation to other polyneuropathies. Biopsy of the sural nerve demonstrates profuse deposition of the polyglucosan bodies in the endoneurium. When demen tia occurs, either with the neuropathy or in isolation, the corpora amylacea are found throughout the cerebrum. The process is detailed by Robitaille and colleagues and an upper motor neuron presentation that simulates amy otrophic lateral sclerosis, by McDonald and coworkers. The bodies are made up largely of glucose polymers that are well known to occur in the aging brain and, when present in small numbers, have been assigned an innocuous meaning. As such, it could be considered with the other neuropathies that have an identifiable metabolic cause, discussed as a group further on. Familial dysautonomia is usually mani fested soon after birth (poor sucking, failure to thrive, unexplained fever, episodes of pneumonia). Hyporeflexia and impairment or loss of pain and temperature sensation, with relative preservation of pressure and tactile sense, are the main manifestations. Motor fibers are probably involved as well, but only to a slight degree; this is shown more effectively by reduced motor conduction velocity in peripheral nerves than it is by weakness. At a later age, the neuropathy becomes overshadowed by other manifesta tions of the disease, notably repeated infections and abnor malities of the autonomic nervous system-lack of tears, corneal ulceration, fixed pupils, blotchiness of the skin, defective temperature control, cold hands and feet, exces sive sweating, lability of blood pressure, postural hypoten sion, difficulty in swallowing, esophageal and intestinal dilation, emotional instability, recurrent vomiting, and stunted growth. Nerve biopsy reveals a diminution of small myelin ated and unmyelinated fibers, which explains the impair ment of pain and temperature sensation. In autopsy material, sympathetic and parasympathetic ganglion cells and, to a lesser extent, nerve cells in the sensory ganglia are diminished in number. Patients excrete increased amounts of homovanillic acid and decreased amounts of vanillylmandelic acid and methoxyhy droxyphenylglycol. Weinshilboum and Axelrod demon strated a decrease in serum dopamine 13-hydroxylase, the enzyme that converts dopamine to norepinephrine. There is no treatment for the disease except to provide symptomatic relief of gastrointestinal symptoms and orthostatic fainting. Other examples of congenital polyneuropathy with absence of autonomic function, probably differing from the Riley-Day dysautonomia, have been reported. A congenital failure of development of neural ele ments derived from the neural crest has been postulated. Ataxia-telangiectasia and Chediak-Higashi disease are other genetic diseases with a recognized metabolic abnormality that may cause a polyneuropathy. Some years ago a young man and woman with universal anesthesia affecting head, neck, trunk, and limbs came to attention (Adams et al); all forms of sensation were absent. The patients were areflexic but retained nearly full motor power; their movements were ataxic. In a sural nerve biopsy, nearly all fibers-large and small, myelinated and unmyelinated-had disappeared. Donaghy and coworkers and others have described a variant of the recessively inherited form of sensory neuropathy in which there was an associated neurotrophic keratitis and a selective loss of small myelinated fibers in sural nerve biopsies. We con tinue to observe variant and unclassifiable cases of purely motor, sensory, or mixed types in which genetic testing does not reveal a mutation such as these every year. Its close relation to Friedreich ataxia and the amyotrophy of Charcot-Marie-Tooth dis ease was recognized. The condition is a sensory ataxia with pes cavus and areflexia, affecting mainly the lower legs and progressing later to involve the hands. Some degree of sensory loss, mainly of vibratory and position sense, is described in all cases. Atrophy of the muscles of the legs and postural tremor eventually become prominent, but the patients do not have signs of cerebellar disease (dysarthria, tremor, nystagmus). Kyphoscoliosis, a feature typical of Friedreich disease, has been described in several cases. Although the feet may be cold or slightly discolored, no autonomic defects are documented and the nerves enlarged. Electrocardiographic abnormalities similar to those of Friedreich ataxia have been noted in one family but are not usual. The onset in many patients is during infancy, possibly dating from birth, and the course is relatively benign; all descendants of the original Roussy-Levy family were still able to walk during their seventh decade of life. Several, but not all, such patients have had a family history of a similar process, but the available genetic testing has failed to reveal the site of a mutation. The genetic basis is uncertain and various genotypes have been reported in single families. Sural nerve biopsy in 2 of our cases disclosed a typical "hypertrophic" poly neuropathy. Our patients were severely disabled, being barely able to stand on their atrophic legs. There were Babinski signs in half the patients and spastic dysphonia in a few others. Although few in number, some cases of chronic polyneuropathy are combined with optic atrophy, with or without deafness or retinitis pigmentosa, and Dyck and Lambert (1 975) classed these in a separate group. Jaradeh and Dyck have also described a hereditary motor-sensory polyneuropathy with the later development of a parkin sonian or a choreic-dystonic syndrome that responded to L-dopa. The mode of inheritance of the two syn dromes, their benign course, pattern of neurologic signs, slow nerve conduction, and biopsy features (demyelin ation of nerve fibers with onion-bulb formation) are much the same. This view has been reinforced by the genetic findings reported by Plante-Bordeneuve and colleagues. Based on limited pathologic study, there is no cerebellar degeneration; nevertheless, the shared clinical features with Friedreich ataxia are unmistakable and create diagnostic confusion before genetic testing. Phytanic acid accumulates because of a deficiency of the peroxisomal enzyme, phytanoyl-coenzyme A (CoA) hydroxylase. Cardiomyopathy and neurogenic deafness are present in most patients, and pupillary abnormalities, cataracts, and ichthyotic skin changes (particularly on the shins) are added features in some. Anosmia and night blindness (nyctalopia) with constriction of the visual fields may precede the neuropathy by many years. The polyneu ropathy is sensorimotor, distal, and symmetrical in distri bution, affecting the legs more than the arms. All forms of sensation are reduced, often deep sensation more so than pain and thermal sense, and tendon reflexes are lost. Usually, the polyneuropathy develops gradually, although in some patients it has a subacute onset or, after being established for some time, a tendency to worsen fairly abruptly.

Cramps of all types need to be distinguished from sen sations of cramp without muscle spasm breast cancer pictorial cheap generic female viagra canada. The disorders that simulate cramps women's health heart day discount 50 mg female viagra free shipping, such as stiff-man syndrome and other forms of continuous muscle fiber activity that have various bases womens health 28 day fat blaster purchase female viagra 100 mg with amex, is discussed in Chap menstrual 10 days late order 50 mg female viagra overnight delivery. Contrasted to cramp is the already described physio logic contracture women's health center manhattan ks buy female viagra 100 mg cheap, observed in McArdle disease and related metabolic myopathies, in which increasing muscle shorten ing and pain gradually develop during muscular activity. Continuous spasm intensified by the action of muscles and with no demonstrable disorder at a neuromuscular level is a common manifestation of local ized tetanus and also follows the bite of the black widow spider. There may also be difficulty distinguishing cramps and spasms from the early stages of a dystonic illness. Altered structure and function of muscle are not accurately revealed by palpation. Of course, the differ ence between the firm, hypertrophied muscle of a well conditioned athlete and the slack muscle of a sedentary person is as apparent to the palpating fingers as to the eye, as is also the persistent contraction in tetanus, cramp, contracture, fibrosis, and extrapyramidal rigidity. The muscles in dystrophy are said to have a "doughy" or "elastic" feel, but we find this difficult to judge. In the Pompe type of glycogen storage disease, attention may be attracted to the musculature by an unnatural firm ness and increase in bulk. The swollen, edematous, weak muscles in acute rhabdomyolysis with myoglobinuria or severe polymyositis may feel taut and firm but are usu ally not tender. Areas of tenderness in muscles that oth erwise function normally, a state called myogelosis, have been attributed to fibrositis or fibromyositis, but their nature has not been divulged by biopsy. Topography and Patterns of Myopathic Weakness In almost all the diseases under consideration, some muscles are affected and others spared, each disease dis playing its own pattern. Restated, the topography or dis tribution of weakness tends to be alike in all patients with the same disease. The pattern of weakness is as important a diagnostic attribute of muscular disease as for the vari ous diseases of the peripheral nervous system discussed in Chap. As a general rule, muscle diseases are identified by a predominantly proximal weakness that is symmetric. The following patterns of muscle involvement con stitute a core of essential clinical knowledge in this field. Subacute and chronic evolution of weakness is distin guished in each category from more acute causes. Ocular Palsies Presenting as Ptosis, Diplopia, and Strabismus Primary diseases of muscle do not involve the pupil, and in most instances their effects are bilateral. Other causes of subacute and chronic development of relatively pure weak ness of the muscles of eye movement are oculopharyngeal dystrophy, and exophthalmic (hyperthyroid) ophthal mopathy. Oculopharyngeal dystrophy involves primarily the levators of the eyelids and, to a lesser extent, other eye muscles and pharyngeal-upper esophageal striated muscles. There are several other less common chronic myopa thies in which external ophthalmoplegia is associated with involvement of other muscles or organs, namely, the congenital ophthalmoplegia of the Goldenhar-Gorlin syndrome (see Aleksic et al); the Keams-Sayre syn drome (retinitis pigmentosa, heart block, short stature, generalized weakness, and ovarian hypoplasia); other congenital myotubular and mitochondrial myopathies; and nuclear ophthalmoplegia with bifacial weakness (Mobius syndrome). Rarely, eye muscle weakness may occur at a late stage in a few other dystrophies and pto sis has a wider diagnostic range that includes myotonic dystrophy. Although not a regular feature of the disease, ophthalmoparesis can occur in the Lambert-Eaton myas thenic syndrome. When present in infantile myopathic disease, it is frequently a marker of the congenital myasthenic syndromes. Bulbar (Oropharyngeal) Palsy Presenting as Dysphonia, Dysarthria, and Dysphagia With or Without Weakness of Jaw or Facial Muscles Myasthenia gravis is the most frequent cause of this syndrome and must also be considered whenever a patient presents with the solitary finding of a hanging jaw or fatigue of the jaw while eat ing or talking; usually, however, ptosis and ocular palsies are conjoined. Combinations of these palsies are not typically of mus cular or neuromuscular origin but instead are observed as an acute syndrome in botulism, in brainstem stroke, and at the outset of Guillain-Barre syndrome. Diphtheria and bulbar poliomyelitis are now rare diseases that may pres ent in this way. Progressive bulbar palsy (motor neuron disease) may be the basis of this syndrome (see Chap. Syringobulbia, basilar invagination of the skull, and certain types of Chiari mal formation may reproduce some of the findings of bulbar palsy by involving the lower cranial nerves. Rare cases of progressive aphonia include the X-linked Kennedy syn drome of bulbospinal atrophy. Cervical Palsy Presenting With Inability to Hold the Head Erect or to Lift the Head From the Pillow ("Hanging, or Dropped, Head" Syndrome, "Camptocormia") this is caused by weakness of the posterior neck muscles and of the stemocleidomastoids and other anterior neck muscles. In advanced forms of this syndrome, the head may hang with chin on chest unless the patient holds it up with the hands. There may be difficulty differen tiating the condition from a dystonic anterocollis; in the latter there is palpable tonic spasm of the sternomastoid and posterior neck muscles. A pattern of neck and spine extensor weakness also occurs in advanced Parkinson disease. A common error in all these cases is to attribute the problem to structural disease of the cervical spine. The same symptom may be a feature of motor neuron disease and is infrequently the presenting feature of that process. Myasthenic patients commonly complain of an inability to hold up their heads late in the day; both flexors and extensors of the neck are found to be weak. Occasionally, this pattern of weak ness is observed in patients with nemaline rod myopa thy. Cases of hanging head have appeared many years after local radiation of the neck and thorax for Hodgkin disease as described by Rowin and colleagues and with syringomyelia (Nalini and Ravishankar). There is, in addition, a poorly characterized local myopathic process isolated to the cervical paraspinal muscles, which has no distinguishing histopathologic or histochemical features but has accounted for many of the cases of neck extensor weakness that we have encoun tered. The condition is observed in elderly persons, in some series mainly men, but our experience has included Bifacial Palsy Presenting as an Inabilih to Smile, to J Expose the Teeth, and to Close the Eyes Varying degrees of bifacial weakness are observed in myasthenia gravis, usually conjoined with ptosis and ocular palsies. On occasion, weakness of facial muscles may be combined with myasthenic weakness of the masseters and other bulbar muscles without involvement of ocular muscles. More severe or complete facial palsy occurs in facioscapulohumeral dystrophy, sometimes present ing several years before weakness of the shoulder girdle muscles. Bifacial weakness is also a feature of certain con genital myopathies (centronuclear, nemaline), Kennedy type of degenerative bulbospinal motor neuron disease, and the Mobius syndrome of the absence of the facial nuclei (in combination with abducens palsies). There is severe but relatively nonpro gressive weakness of the neck extensors and only mild weakness of shoulder girdle and proximal arm muscles. Katz and colleagues have suggested the designation "iso lated neck extensor myopathy" in preference to dropped head syndrome. A dif fuse weakness of both arms and the shoulder muscles may occur in the early stages of Guillain-Barre syndrome, para neoplastic neuropathy, and amyloid polyneuropathy, in special forms of immunoglobulin (lg) M-related parapro teinemic, or in inflammatory polyneuropathy. These conditions of cervical weakness are reviewed by Umapathi and colleagues and by Azher and Jankovic. The major types of progressive muscular dystrophies, when advanced, usually affect the anterior neck muscles severely. Syringomyelia, spinal accessory neuropathy, some form of meningoradiculitis, and loss of anterior hom cells in conjunction with systemic lymphoma or carcinoma may differentially paralyze the various neck muscles. A lesion affecting this same pattern, but in that case there is an associated loss of pain and thermal sensation in the upper limbs and shoulders, signs that exclude disease of muscle. Proximal Limb-Girdle Palsies Presenting as Inability to Raise the Arms or to Arise From a Squatting, Kneeling, or Sitting Position this is the common pattern of a num ber of myopathies. Proximal limb weakness is a feature of myasthenia but almost always after the development of ocular or pharyngeal involvement. The childhood Duchenne, Becker, and limb-girdle types of dystrophies tend first to affect the muscles of the pelvic girdle, gluteal region, and thighs, resulting in a lumbar lordosis and protuberant abdomen, a waddling gait, and difficulty in arising from the floor and climbing stairs without the assistance of the arms. Climbing up by placing the hands on the thighs (Gower sign) is particularly characteristic of the dystrophies. Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy affects the muscles of the face and shoulder girdles foremost, and it is manifest by incomplete eye closure, inability to whistle and to raise the arms above the head, winging of the scapulae, and thinness of the upper arms Weakness ofRespiratory and Trunk Muscles the diaphragm, chest, and Usually trunk muscles are affected in association with shoulder and proximal limb muscles, but occasionally, isolated weakness of the respiratory muscles is the initial or the dominant manifestation of a muscle disease. Dyspnea and diminished vital capacity first bring the patient to the pulmonary clinic. The main causes are motor neuron disease, myasthenia gravis and less often because of their rarity, glycogen storage disease (acid maltase deficiency-Pompe disease), mitochondrial myopathies, and nemaline myopathy. Polymyositis may cause respiratory weakness, but pulmonary difficulty is more often the result of interstitial lung disease. Unilateral paralysis of the diaphragm may result from compression of the phrenic nerve in the thorax by tumor or aortic aneurysm; an idiopathic or postinfectious vari ety may be related to brachial plexitis (see Chap. Certain early or mild forms of dystrophy may selectively involve only the peroneal and scapular muscles. In milder forms of poly the diaphragm and accessory muscles may be severely affected in some types of muscular dystrophies, but usu ally in association with pelvocrural and shoulder muscle weakness. Nocturnal dyspnea, sleep apnea, and respira tory arrest may occur, particularly in myasthenics and in patients with glycogen storage myopathies, and respira tory failure may threaten life in severe myasthenia gravis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and poliomyelitis. As a general observation, in the acute neuromuscular paralyses, the cervical and shoulder muscles and the dia phragm, all of which share a common innervation, show a similar degree of weakness. Asking the patient to count myositis, weakness may be limited to the neck muscles or to the shoulder or pelvic girdles. A number of other diseases of muscle may express themselves by a disproportionate weakness of girdle and proximal limb musculature. An intrinsic metabolic myopathy, such as the adult form of acid maltase defi ciency and the familial types of periodic paralysis, may affect only this region. The congenital myopathies (central core, nemaline, myotubular) cause a relatively nonprogressive weakness of girdle muscles more than distal ones. Proximal muscles are occasionally implicated in spinal muscular atrophy or late onset type and in Kennedy bulbospinal atrophy. Paradoxical inward movement of the aloud on weakness (counting to abdomen with inspiration is another sign of diaphragm weakness. Bicrural Palsy Presenting as Lower Leg Weakness With Inability to Walk on the Heels and Toes, or as Paralysis of All Leg Muscles With the exception of certain distinctive distal types of muscular dystrophies, this pat 26 and 46 in relation to its most dramatic tern, usually due to weakness of peroneal, anterior tibial, and thigh muscles, is usually not a result of myopathy. In cases of total leg and thigh weakness, one first considers a spinal cord disease. Motor neuron disease may begin in the legs, asymmetrically and than are involved in the restricted paralyses of other parts distally as a rule, and affect them disproportionately to other parts of the body. Thus the differential diagnosis of distal or generalized leg weakness involves more diseases Hoffman spinal muscular atrophy or, if milder in degree and relatively nonprogressive, of one of the congenital myopathies or polyneuropathies. In these diseases of infancy, paucity of movement, hypotonia, and retardation of motor development may be more obvious than weak ness, and there is arthrogryposis at birth. Paralysis of Single Muscles or a Group of Muscles this is usually neuropathic, less often spinal or myo pathic. Muscle disease does not need to be considered except in certain instances of pressure-ischemic necrosis of muscle as a result of local pressure or infarction, as in monoplegic alcoholic myopathy or in diabetic muscle infarction. The weakness of ffiM has a preference for certain sites, specifically parts of the quadriceps, or of the forearm muscles, particularly the long finger flexors (flexor digitorum profundus), and also therefore enters into consideration. From this exposition of the topographic aspects of weakness, one can appreciate that each neuromuscular disease exhibits a predilection for particular groups of muscles. The symptoms and signs of muscle disease are con sidered in this chapter mainly in connection with the age of the patient at the time of onset, their mode of evolu tion, and the presence or absence of familial occurrence. Because many muscle diseases are hereditary, a careful family history is important. The pattern of inheritance has diagnostic significance and, if genetic counseling or prenatal diagnosis is a consideration, a detailed genea logic tree becomes essential. When historical data are insufficient, it is often necessary to examine siblings and parents of the proband. The molecular genetics and other genetic aspects of the heritable muscle diseases, subjects of intense interest in recent years, are discussed at appro priate points in the chapter. Isolated Quadriceps Femoris Weakness Isolated quad riceps femoris weakness may be the expression of several diseases. In adults, the most common cause is ffiM (where it may be unilateral or asymmetrical) or, a restricted form of Becker muscular dystrophy. In thyrotoxic and steroid myopathies, the major effects are on the quadriceps muscles. If unilateral or bilateral with loss of patellar reflex and sensation over the inner leg, this condition is most often the result of a femoral neuropathy, as occurs from diabetes, or of an upper lumbosacral plexus lesion. Injuries to the hip and knee cause rapid disuse atrophy of the quadriceps muscles. A painful condition of infarction of the muscle on 1 side is seen in diabetic patients. Distal Bilateral Limb Palsies Presenting as Foot Drop with Steppage Gait (With or Without Pes Cavus), Weakness of All Lower Leg Muscles, and Later Wrist Drop and Weakness of Hands the principal cause of this syndrome is a familial polyneuropathy, mainly of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth type (see Chap. Chronic nonfamilial polyneuropathies, particularly paraproteinemic and inflammatory ones with motor conduction block and exceptionally, some forms of familial progressive muscular atrophy and distal types of progressive muscular dystrophy, and sarcoid myopathy may also present in this way. In myotonic dystrophy, there may be weakness of the leg muscles as well as the forearms, sternocleidomastoids, face, and eyes. With these exceptions, the generalization that girdle weakness without sensory changes is indicative of myopathy and that distal weakness is indicative of neuropathy is clinically useful. Generalized or Universal Paralysis: Limb (but Usually Not Cranial) Muscles, Involved Either in Attacks or as a Chronic Persistent, Progressive Deterioration When acute in onset and episodic, this syndrome is usually a manifestation of familial or acquired hypokalemic or hyperkalemic periodic paralysis. One variety of the hypo kalemic type is associated with hyperthyroidism, another with hyperaldosteronism. Attacks of porphyric neuropa thy and of Refsum disease with generalized weakness have an episodic nature. Widespread paresis (rather than paralysis) that has an acute onset and lasts many weeks is at times a feature of a severe form of idiopathic or parasitic (trichinosis) polymyositis and, rarely, of the toxic effects of certain pharmaceutical agents, particularly those used to treat hypercholesterolemia. Idiopathic polymyositis and, rarely, ffiM may involve all limb and trunk muscles, but usually spare the facial and ocular muscles, whereas the weakness in trichinosis is mainly in the ocular and lingual muscles. In infants and young children, a chronic and persistent generalized weakness of all muscles, except those of the eyes, always raises the question of Werdnig- diseases is facilitated by a prior knowledge of a few topo the illness, a familial occurrence of the same or similar graphic syndromes, the age of the patient at the onset of illnesses, and of the medical setting in which weakness evolves.

This effect is so constant that a failure of the nystagmus and ocular palsies to respond to thiamine should raise doubts about the diagnosis of Wernicke disease women's health center syracuse ny female viagra 100 mg purchase with visa. Horizontal gaze palsies recover completely as a rule women's health center lexington ky buy cheap female viagra 100 mg on-line, but in 60 percent of cases a fine horizontal nystagmus remains as a permanent sequela menstruation under graviditet buy cheap female viagra 50 mg line. The rem ng recover incompletely or not at all and are left with a slow menopause test buy discount female viagra 50 mg online, shuffling womens health 2014 buy cheap female viagra 50 mg on line, wide-based gait and inability to walk tandem. The residual gait disturbances and horizontal nystagmus provide a means of identig ob ure d chronic cases of dementia as alcohohc-nutnhonal m origin. The early symptoms of apathy, drowsiness, and global confusion invariably recede, and as they do the. However, the memory disorder, once established, recov ers completely or almost completely in only 20 percent of patients. Lesions are consistently found m the mammillary bodies and less consistently in other areas. The microscopic changes are characterized by vary g degrees of necrosis of parenchymal structures. Within the area of necrosis, nerve cells are lost, but usually some remain; some of these are damaged but others are intact. These changes are accompanied by a prominence of the blood vessels, although in some cases there appears to be a primary endothelial proliferation and evidence of recent or old petechial hemorrhage. The ocular muscle and gaze palsies are attributable to lesions of the sixth- and third-nerve nuclei and adja cent tegmentum, and the nystagmus to lesions in the regions of the vestibular nuclei. The latter are also respon sible for the loss of caloric responses and probably for the gross disturbance of equilibrium that chacterizes the. The lack of sigruficant destru tion of nerve cells in these lesions accounts for the rapid improvement and the high degree of rec very of o ulo motor and vestibular functions. Hypothen ma, which occurs sometimes as an early feature of Werrucke disease, is probably attributable to lesions in the posteri r and posterolateral nuclei of the hypothalamus (expen mentally placed lesions in these parts have been shown to cause hypothennia or poikilothermia in monkeys). The topography of the neu:opathologic chanes in patients who die in the chrome stages of the disease. Apart from the expected diffrences in ae of the glial and vascular reactions, the only rmportant difference. The medial parts of these nuclei were consistently involved in the patients who the transformation of the global confusional state in to an amnesic syndrome are s uccessive stages zn a szngle dzsease process. Of 186 patients in the series of Victor, Adams and Collins (1989) who survived the acute illness, 157 (84 percent) showed this sequence of clinial eve ts. As a corollary, a survey of alcoholic patients with Korsakoff amnesia in a psychiatric hospital disclosed that in most patients the illness had begun ith the symptoms of Wernicke disease and that approximately 60 percent of them still showed some ocular or cer ebellar stigmata of Wernicke disease many years after. The mammillary bodies were affected in all the patients, both those with the amnesic defect and those without. These observations suggest that the lesions responsible for the memory disorder are those of the thalami, predominantly of parts of the medial dorsal nuclei (and their connections with the medial frontal and temporal lobes and amygdaloid nuclei), and not those of the mammillary bodies, as is frequently stated. It is nota ble that the hippocampal formations, the site of damage in most other types of Korsakoff memory loss, are intact. A different problem in management may arise once the patient has recovered from Wernicke disease and the amne sic syndrome becomes prominent. The extent to which the amnesic symptoms will recover cannot be predicted during the acute stages of the illness. Interestingly, the alcoholic Korsakoff patient, once more or less recovered, seldom demands alcohol but will drink it if it is offered. Treatment of the Wern icke-Ko rsa koff Synd rome Wernicke disease constitutes a medical emergency; its recognition (or even the suspicion of its presence) requires the administration of thiamine. The prompt use of thiamine prevents progression of the disease and reverses those lesions that have not yet progressed to the point of fixed structural change. As emphasized earlier, in patients who show only ocular signs and ataxia, the administration of thiamine is crucial in preventing the development of an irreversible amnesic state. Although 2 to 3 mg of thiamine may be sufficient to modify the ocular signs, much larger doses are needed to sustain improvement and replenish the depleted thiamine stores-initially, 50 to 200 mg intravenously and a similar dose mg intramuscularly-the latter being repeated each day until the patient resumes a normal diet. Certain writ ings indicate that initial doses of 500 mg are necessary to fully reverse the manifestations of Wernicke disease and prevent progression to the point of a Korsakoff syndrome. It appears that these higher doses, given for several days parenterally, are needed to replete vitamin levels in alco holic and nutritionally deprived patients (see the articles by Thomson et al), but the need for high-dose regimens to reverse Wernicke disease is based on less-persuasive data. Nonetheless, current guidelines from the Royal College of Physicians, given by Thomson, promote high-dose regimens and seem advisable. The risks of administering parenteral thiamine have probably been overstated; ana phylactic reactions occurred in 0. To avoid precipitating Wernicke disease, it has become standard practice in emergency departments to administer 100 mg or more of thiamine in malnourished or alcoholic patients if intravenous fluids that contain glucose are being infused. Magnesium is given as well because it is required as cofactor for thiamine activity. It is similarly advisable to give B vitamins to alcoholic patients who are seen for other reasons in the emergency department so as to raise body stores of thiamine and other vitamins. The chronic alcoholic (or the nonalcoholic with persistent vomiting) exhausts thiamine in a matter of 7 or 8 weeks, during which time the administration of glucose may serve to precipitate Wernicke disease or cause an early form of the disease to progress rapidly. The I nfa ntile Wem icke-Beriberi Disease this designates an acute and frequently fatal disease of infants, which until recently was common in rice-eating communities of the Far East. It affects only breast-fed infants, usually in the second to the fifth months of life. Acute cardiac symptoms dominate the clinical picture, but neurologic symptoms (aphonia, strabismus, nys tagmus, spasmodic contraction of facial muscles, and convulsions) have been described in many of the cases. This syndrome can be reversed dramatically by the administration of thiamine, so that some authors prefer to call it acute thiamine deficiency in infants. In the few neu ropathologic studies that are available, changes like those of Wernicke disease in the adult have been described. Occasionally, there are outbreaks of this condition due to inadequately formulated baby foods that lack thiamine. The absence of beriberi in the mothers of affected infants suggests that infantile beriberi might be due to the result of a toxic factor in breast milk, but such a factor, if it exists, has never been isolated. The levels of thiamine in the breast milk of such mothers have not been measured, however. Rarely, the clinical manifestations of beriberi in infancy represent an inherited (autosomal recessive) thiamine-dependent state, responding to the continued administration of massive doses of thiamine (Mandel et al; see also Table 41-3, further on). The milling process, or "polishing," removes the husk that contains most of the vitamin nutrients. In fact, beriberi is a distinct clinical entity that is not confined to any particular part of the world. The cardiac manifestations range from tachycardia and exer tional dyspnea to acute and rapidly fatal heart failure, the latter being the most dramatic but uncommon mani festation of beriberi. Far more distressing are feelings of heat or "burning" affecting mainly the soles, less frequently the dorsal aspects of the feet. These dys esthesias fluctuate in severity and characteristically are worsened by contactual stimuli, sometimes to the point where the patient cannot walk or bear the touch of bed clothes, despite the relative preservation of motor power (allodynia). As the symptoms suggest, the signs are symmetrical, and more severe in distal than in proxi mal portions of the limbs, and often confined to the legs. In some cases, the disproportionate affection of motor wrist-drop, but the proximal muscles are usually affected 1911) was it suspected that the neuropathy of alcoholics was also nutritional in origin. The similarity between beriberi and alcoholic neuropathy was commented upon by several authors, but it was Shattuck, in the relationship of 1928, who first seriously discussed the 2 disorders. He suggested that power may be striking, taking the form of a foot- and "polyneuritis of chronic alcoholism was caused chiefly by failure to take or assimilate food containing a sufficient quantity as well (indicated, for example, by climbing stairs or by difficulty in arising from a squatting position). In a few patients, the weakness appears to be most severe in the proximal muscles. Absolute paralysis of the legs had been observed in the past only rarely; immobility caused by contractures at the knees and ankles in neglected patients was a more common occurrence. Tenderness of muscles on deep pressure is a highly characteristic finding, elic ited most readily in the muscles of the feet and calves. In the arms, tendon reflexes are sometimes retained despite a loss of strength in the hands. He allowed 10 patients to continue their daily consumption of whiskey while they consumed a well-balanced diet supplemented with yeast and vitamin B concentrates; the peripheral nerve symp toms improved in every case. Excessive sweating of the soles and dorsal aspects of the feet and of the volar surfaces of the hands and fingers is a common manifestation of alcohol-induced nutritional neuropathy. Postural hypotension is sometimes associ ated, all symptoms indicative of involvement of the peripheral sympathetic nerve fibers. Sensory loss or impairment may involve all the modalities, although one may be affected out of propor tion to the others, usually pain and temperature. The mildest neuro pathic signs are thinness and tenderness of the leg mus diverse. In fact, many patients are asymptomatic and evi cles, loss or depression of the Achilles reflexes and perhaps of the patellar reflexes and at times, a patchy blunting of pain and touch sensation over the feet and shins. Most patients, however, are symptomatic and have weakness, paresthesias, and pain as the usual complaints. The symptoms are insidious in onset and slowly progres sive, but occasionally they seem to evolve or to worsen rapidly over a matter of days. The initial symptoms are usually referred to the distal portions of the limbs and progress proximally In patients with impairment of superficial sensation. Patients in whom pain is the outstanding symptom do not constitute a distinct group in terms of their neu rologic signs. Pain and dysesthesias may be prominent in patients with either severe or slight degrees of motor, reflex, and sensory loss. Usually some aspect of motor disability is part of the chief complaint, but in about one-third of the patients the main complaints are pain and paresthe sias. It is this painful syndrome that has been the most prominent feature in the patients we have encountered in recent years. The discomfort takes several forms: a dull, constant ache in the feet or legs; sharp and lancinating pains, momentary in duration, like those of tabes dor salis; sensations of cramping or tightness in the muscles of the feet and calves; or band-like feelings around the legs. Coldness of the feet is a common complaint but is hyperesthetic is used commonly to designate the exquisitely painful form of neuropathy but is not well chosen; as pointed out in Chap. Once the stimulus is perceived, however, it has a painful and diffuse, unpleasant quality (hyperpathia). The most pronounced changes are observed in the distal parts of the longest and largest myelinated fibers in the crural and, to a lesser extent, brachial nerves. In the most advanced instances of neuropathy, hoarseness and weakness of the voice and dysphagia as a result of degeneration of the vagus nerves may be added to the clinical picture. The vagus and phremc nerves and paravertebral sympathetic trunks may be affected in advanced cases. Anterior hom and dorsal root ganglion cells undergo chromatolysis, indicating axonal damage. In the remaining patients, the motor-reflex-sensory signs occurred in various combinations. Stasis edema and pigmentation, glossiness, and thin ness of the skin of the lower legs and feet are common findings in patients with any severe form of neopathy. Repeated trauma to insensitive parts and super imposed infection are thought to be responsible for the neuropathic arthropathy, as discussed in Chaps. Nevertheless, several studies in birds and humans do indeed indicate that uncomplicated thiamine deficiency may result in peripheral nerve disease. Findings of nerve conduction studies include mild to moderate degrees of slowing of motor and sensory conduction and a marked reduction in the amplitudes of sensory action potentials; the motor conduction velocies in distal segments of the nerves may be reduced, while conduction in proximal segments is normal. The evidence for this view is not compelling, either on clinical or on experimental grounds, as already mentioned (see refer ence to Strauss, in introductory section on nutritional neuropathy). The data presented more recently by Koike and colleagues, ostensibly in favor of the existence of a true alcoholic neuropathy, in our view present no con vincing support of a direct toxic effect of alcohol. If persistent vomiting or other gastrointestinal compl ca tions prevent the patient from eating, parenteral feeding becomes necessary; the vitamins may be given intramus cularly or added to intravenous fluids. Aching of the limbs may be related to their immobility, in which case they should be moved passively on frequent occa sions. Aspirin or acetaminophen is usually sufficient to control hyperpathia and allodynia; occasionally codeine or methadone must be added. Obviously, opiates and addicting synthetic analgesics should be avoided if pos sible, but we have resorted to fentanyl patches for short periods in a few severely affected patients. Some of our patients with severe burning pain (similar to causalgia) in the feet had in the past been helped temporarily by blocking the lumbar sympathetic ganglia or by epidural injection of analgesics. The response to phenytoin, car bamazepine, and gabapentin has been inconsistent, but they are widely used. Adrenergic-blocking medication has been of little value and mexiletine, in our experience, of uncertain benefit. The regeneration of peripheral nerves, which may take many months, will be of little avail if the muscles have been allowed to undergo contracture and the joints to become fixed. In cases of severe paralysis, molded splints should be applied to the arms, hands, legs, and feet during periods of rest. Pressure on the heels and elbows can be avoided by padding the splints and by turning the patient frequently or by asking the patient to do so. In the mildest cases there may be a considerable restoration of motor function in a few weeks. In severe forms of the disease, many months may pass before the patient is able to walk unaided. The sensory features and pain in particular may be slower to recover, having taken over a year in one of our recently observed patients. The slowness of recovery creates a special problem for the alcoholic patient, in whom the great danger to continued recovery is the resumption of drinking and inadequate diet.

In contrast to these effects of demyelination of peripheral nerve pregnancy nutrition app 100 mg female viagra order otc, loss of axon fibers (axonal neuropathy) results in a reduction of the amplitude of summed electrical activity of the action potential in muscles uniformly all along the nerve pregnancy in weeks generic female viagra 100 mg buy on line, and to atrophic denervation of muscle as described further on women's health center vashon buy 100 mg female viagra otc. The nerve fiber contacts the muscle membrane in a trough-like junctional space of 50 mm-the synaptic cleft-between the axolemma and sarcolemma women's health issues canada quality female viagra 100 mg. Motor endplate showing relationship between various structures in nerve and muscle women's health specialists buy female viagra online now. Last segment of myelin, with Schwann nucleus (5), terminates abruptly, leaving axis cylinder covered by sheaths of Schwann and Henle. Ramifications of axis cylinder (telodendria) lie in grooves or pouches in granular sarcoplasm, each lined by spiny "subneural apparatus" of Couteaux, which is continuous with membranous sarcolemma and also Schwann membrane. Its main function is to terminate the action potential and permit the sequential activation of muscle. The postsynaptic membrane, once depolarized, is refractory to another action potential until it is repolarized. The analysis of a rapid series of electrically of voluntarily elicited muscle contractions is used to test the function of the neuromuscular junction by stressing conduction across the junction. In general, a decrement in the amplitude of serial muscle action potentials is typical of postsynaptic failure, and an increment in the amplitude from a train of stimuli is a reflection of presynaptic failure. Myasthenia gravis is the principal disease affecting the neuromuscular junction and represents a failure of postsynaptic function (see Chap. The curariform drugs, derived from curare and termed nondepolarizing neuromuscular blockers because they do not alter the postsynaptic membrane potential are the main examples. Other drugs, notably succinylcholine and decamethonium, cause neuromuscular blockage by producing direct depolarization of the endplate and adjacent sarcoplasmic membrane (depolarizing neuromuscular blockers). The ones in clinical use for the treatment of myasthenia gravis are the carbamates neostigmine, physostigmine, and pyridostigmine, the effects of which are reversible. The organophosphates are irreversible blockers of cholinesterase function, for which reason they are feared weapons of chemical warfare. Because the potent cholinergic antagonist atropine is active only at muscarinic sites, it has no effect at the neuromuscular junction. Following nerve stimulation, an action potential is transmitted by the sarcolemma from the motor endplate region to both ends of the muscle fiber. Depolarization spreads quickly to the interior of the fiber along the walls of the transverse tubules, probably by a conducted action potential. The transverse tubules and the terminal cisternae of the sarcoplasmic reticulum come into close proximity at points referred to as triads. Here, depolarization of the transverse tubules alters the conformation of a voltage-sensitive calcium channel in the transverse tubule membrane. The transverse (T) system, whlch is an invagination of the plasma membrane of the cell, surrounds the myofibril midway between the Z lines and the center of the A bands; the T system is approxi mated to , but apparently not continuous with, dilated elements (terminal cisternae) of the sarcoplasmic reticulum on either side. Thus, each sarcomere (the repeating Z-line-to-Z-line unit) contains two "triads," each composed of a pair of terminal cisternae on each side of the T tubule. The released calcium binds to the regulatory protein troponin, thereby removing the inhibition exerted by the troponin-tropomyosin system upon the contractile protein actin. This chemical change allows the filaments to slide past each other, thereby shortening the muscle fiber. Relaxation occurs as a result of active (energy-dependent) Ca reuptake by the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Myoglobin, another important muscle protein, functions in the transfer of oxygen, and a series of oxidative enzymes are involved in this exchange. The intracellular Ca, as noted earlier, is released by the muscle action potential and must be reaccumulated within the cisternae of the sarcoplasmic reticulum before actin and myosin filaments can slide back past one another in relaxation. The same sort of shortening contracture occurs under normal conditions in some of the "catch muscles" of certain mollusks and is the basis of rigor mortis in mammals. Muscle cells rich in oxidative enzymes (type 1 fibers) contain more mitochondria and larger amounts of myoglobin (therefore appearing red), have slower rates of contraction and relaxation, fire more tonically, and are less fatigable than muscle fibers poor in oxidative enzymes. The latter (type 2 fibers) fire in bursts and are used in quick phasic, rather than sustained, reactions. The mechanical change far outlasts the electrical one and extends through the period when the muscle fiber is refractory to another action potential. When a second muscle action potential arrives after the refractory phase of the previous action potential, but before the muscle has relaxed, the contraction will be prolonged. In 2 (phosphorylative-rich) fibers have a high content of this enzyme; hence type 1 fibers stain lightly and most sustained contractions, there is incomplete teta 40 to 50 type 2 darkly (the reverse reaction occurs at pH 4. All the fibers within one motor unit are of the same type, a feature that is used to advantage to identify the reinnervation of muscle fibers by a single motor neuron after adjacent neurons have died and denervated their constituent muscle fibers (fiber-type grouping). The chemical energy required to maintain the various activities of the muscle cell is derived mainly from the metabolism of carbohydrate (blood glucose, muscle glycogen) and from fatty acids (plasma-free fatty acids, esterified fatty acids, and ketone bodies). There is a lesser contribution to energy from branched chain and other amino acids, but their activity increases during prolonged exercise. The most readily available source of muscular energy is glycogen, which is synthesized and stored in muscle cells. It provides more than 90 percent of the energy needs of muscle under conditions of high work intensity and during the early stages of submaximal exercise. Blood glucose and free fatty acids supplement intracellular glycogen as exercise proceeds. The free fatty acids are obtained from endogenous triglycerides (found mostly in type this fashion, the mechanical contractions of individual muscle fibers are smoothed into a continuous process, even though the electrical potentials present as a series of depolarizations, separated by intervals during which the muscle membrane resumes its resting p olarized state. The strength of muscle contraction is in turn a function of the number and rates of firing of many adjacent motor units. The smoothness of contraction depends on the integrated and sequential enlistment of motor units of increasing size. Further study involves the insertion into the muscle of a coaxial needle, which samples several motor units in the vicinity of the electrode. When elicited by a sustained voluntary contraction, the flurry of electrical activity from many muscle fibers at different distances from the electrodes is referred to as an interference pattern (see further on, under "Studies of Nerve Conduction" and "Needle Examination of Muscle [Electromyography]"). Various biochemical changes may cause not only an impairment of muscular activity (paresis, paralysis) but also excessive irritability, tetany, spasm, and cramp. In these instances, spontaneous discharges may occur from instability of axon polarization; hence a single nerve impulse may initiate a train of action potentials in nerve and muscle, as in the tetany of hypocalcemia. The common cramps of calf and foot muscles (painful, sustained contractions with motor unit discharges at frequencies up to 200 per second) may be a result of increased excitability (or unstable polarization) of the 1 fibers), from the triglycerides released by circulating lipoproteins, and from the lipolysis of adipose tissue. The enzymatic reactions involved in the transport of these substrates into muscle cells and their intracellular synthesis and degradation during anaerobic and aerobic cell conditions have been thoroughly investigated and most of the participating enzymes have been identified. This subject is too extensive to be presented in a textbook of neurology, but enough is known about these matters to state that there are diseases that impair the contractile functions of muscle without destroying the fiber. In particular, specific enzymatic deficiencies alter carbohydrate utilization (myophosphorylase, debrancher enzyme, phosphofructokinase, and phosphoglyceromutase deficiencies), fatty acid utilization (carnitine and carnitine palmitoyl transferase deficiencies), pyruvate metabolism, and cytochrome oxidase activity (in the mitochondrial muscle diseases). Quinine, procainamide, diphenhydramine, and warmth reduce the irritability of nerve and muscle fiber membranes, as do a number of antiepileptic drugs that act by blocking sodium channels, thereby limiting spontaneous membrane discharges. The muscle fiber, which is wholly dependent on the nerve for its stimulus to contract, may be physiologically activated or paralyzed in a number of ways that are explained by the principles described above. The main disturbances of nerve, muscle, and neuromuscular function occur when the motor nerve cell or its axon is injured or inexcitable, in which case the muscle cannot be stimulated; or, the nerve cell in the anterior hom of the spinal cord may be disinhibited, permitting the discharge of continuous action poten tials, as in tetanus and the "stiff man" syndrome (see Chap. One type of this last category is due to genetically determined abnormalities of voltage gated ion channels, the "channelopathies," that are the subject of Chap. Similarly, there may be an unstable polarization of the nerve fibers, as in tetany and in dehydration with salt depletion, or hyperirritability of the motor unit, as in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The threshold of mechanical activation or electrical reactivation of the sarcolemmal membrane may be reduced, as occurs in myotonia, or impairment of an energy mechanism within the fiber may slow the contractile process, as in hypothyroidism; or a deficiency of phosphorylase, which deprives muscle of its carbohydrate energy source, may prevent relaxation, as in the contracture of McArdle disease. Lesions of the most peripheral branches of nerves, which allow nerve regeneration, may give rise to continuous activity of motor units. In recent years, special techniques have made it possible to study each of the proteins and channels involved in neuromuscular transmission and the excitation-contraction-relaxation of muscle fibers. This information is being increasingly applied to the analysis of genetic diseases of muscle in the normal state and under conditions of disease. Pertinent comments and references to this subject are found in the chapters that follow. These disorders reflect the concentrations of electrolytes in the intra- and extracellular fluids. The normal reaction of muscle to direct per cussion is also reduced or abolished, suggesting impair ment of transmission along the sarcolemmal membranes themselves. Hypocalcemia of 7 mg/dL or less (as in rickets or hypoparathyroidism) or relative reduction in the propor tion of ionized calcium (as in hyperventilation) causes increased muscle irritability and spontaneous discharge of sensory and motor nerve fibers. Hypercalcemia with Ca levels above 12 mg/ dL (as occurs in vitamin D intoxication, hyperparathyroid ism, carcinomatosis, sarcoidosis, and multiple myeloma) causes weakness perhaps on a central basis, and leth argy. Extreme hypophosphatemia, observed most often with intravenous hyperalimentation or bone tumor, can cause acute areflexic paralysis with nerve conduc tion abnormalities. Reduction in the plasma concentration of magnesium also results in tremor, muscle weakness, tetanic muscle spasms, and convulsions; a considerable increase in magnesium levels leads to muscle weakness and depression of central nervous function. It is notable that in some black men the level may normally be in the range of 500 U /L in the absence of muscle or nerve disease (see below). As interesting is the rise in serum enzyme concentration in some children with progressive muscular dystrophy before there is enough destruction of fibers for the disease to be clinically manifest, at least as judged by the relatively crude test of muscle strength. Alterations of serum enzyme levels are, however, nonspecific as they occur in all types of disease that damage the muscle fiber. It would be expected that enzyme values would be normal in paralysis due to denervation with secondary muscular atrophy, but elevations are sometimes observed in patients with progressive spinal muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, particularly if there is relatively rapid progression of the disease. There is a particularly high incidence of this finding, albeit of mild degree, in African American men. Detailed examination may reveal slight proximal weakness and perhaps minimal calf enlargement characteristic of the mildest forms of Becker dystrophy. Because treatment would likely be withheld until weakness or pain arises, in idiopathic cases of raised enzyme levels, it seems prudent to delay biopsy unless the enzyme levels are massively elevated. Measurement in the serum of various transaminases or lactate dehydrogenase is not particularly useful for the diagnosis of muscle disease because of the ubiquitous distribution of these enzymes in many mammalian tissues. Nevertheless, the neurologist should be aware that unexplained elevations in all of the muscle-derived enzy. As mentioned, cardiac muscle-specific enzyme, troponin, is not expressed in skeletal muscle and therefore is not found in the serum in cases of muscle disease, except in unusual circumstances in which regenerating muscle fibers in muscular dystrophies may transiently express the enzy. More often, elevations or troponin in these muscular diseases reflects a parallel myocardial disorder that accompanies several varieties of dystrophy. Destruction of striated muscle, regard less of the cause liberates myoglobin, and because of its relatively small size, the molecule filters through the glomeruli and appears in the urine, imparting to it a burgundy-red color. Because of the low renal threshold for myoglobin, excretion of the pigment is so rapid that the serum remains uncolored. In contrast, the high renal threshold for hemoglobin colors both the serum and the urine if there is destruction of red blood corpuscles. Myoglobinuria should thus be suspected when the urine is deep red and the serum is normal in color. It is esti mated that 200 g of muscle must be destroyed to color the urine visibly (Rowland). As with hemoglobinuria, the guaiac and benzidine tests performed on urine are positive if myoglobin is present. On spectroscopic analysis, myoglobin shows an absorption band at 581 nm but the most sensitive method for measuring myoglobin in the urine and serum is by radioimmunoassay: Some years ago, the measurement of creatine and creatinine in blood and urine was a standard method of estimating damage to striated muscle. However, measurement of urine creatinine in large-volume samples of urine that have been collected for other testing assures that an adequate amount of renal excretion is being captured in the sample. For decades, this was the standard electrical method for evaluating denervation of muscle. Although still valid, it was replaced by nerve conduction studies and by the needle electrode examination. The latter test, based on the sherringtonian concept of the "motor unit" described in Chap. The terms electromyog raphy and electromyogram were used originally to describe the needle electrode examination but are now a common shorthand designation for the entire electrodiagnostic evaluation, including the nerve conduction studies. The results of these motor and sensory nerve conduction studies, expressed as ampli tudes, conduction velocities, and distal latencies, yield certain quantitative information and additional qualita tive observations regarding the waveform and dispersion of electrical neural and muscular impulses. Hodes and coworkers, in 1948, were the first to describe nerve conduction studies in patients, and the techniques used currently are not much changed. An accessible nerve is stimulated through the skin by surface electrodes, using a stimulus that is large enough to recruit (cause a discharge in) all the available nerve fibers. An alternative but much more demanding technique uses "near-nerve" needle electrodes to record action potentials as they course through the nerve. The main characteristics of the conventional nerve conduction studies are described below. This is particularly true of patients with thyrotoxicosis or Cushing disease, and of those receiving prolonged corticosteroid therapy. In thyrotoxicosis, mus cle weakness may appear without the signs of Graves disease. The electrical pulse required is brief, less than a millisecond, and is most effectively induced by rapidly alternating (faradic) current. If there has been muscle denervation, an electrical pulse of several millisec onds induced by a constant electrical (galvanic) stimulus is required to produce the same response. The former is the one used more often as a reflection of conduction time in routine work.

Some patients have benefited menstruation twice in a month trusted 100 mg female viagra, paradoxically menstruation every two weeks causes 50 mg female viagra purchase with mastercard, from the stopping of corticosteroids or estrogen menopause matters female viagra 50 mg mastercard. Also womens health zone abortion 100 mg female viagra buy with visa, some practitioners favor the use of nonsteroid antiinflam matory medication women's health lynchburg va cheap female viagra 50 mg with mastercard, but we have been generally unim pressed with the results. Most often, splinting and local steroid injections are very satisfactory in the short-term, especially if the symptoms are of recent onset. Another less common site of compression of the median nerve is at the elbow, where the nerve passes between the two heads of the pronator teres, or just above that point behind the bicipital aponeurosis. It gives rise to the "pronator syndrome," in which forceful pronation of the forearm produces an aching pain (see Table 46-8). There is weakness of the abductor pollicis brevis and opponens muscles and numbness of the first three digits and palm. It innervates the ulnar flexor of the wrist, the ulnar half of the deep finger flexors, the adductors and abductors of the fingers, the adductor of the thumb, the third and fourth lumbricals, and muscles of the hypo thenar eminence. Complete ulnar paralysis is manifest by a characteristic clawhand deformity; wasting of the small hand muscles results in hyperextension of the fingers at the metacarpophalangeal joints and flexion at the interphalangeal joints. The flexion deformity is most pronounced in the fourth and fifth fingers, as the lumbri cal muscles of the second and third fingers, supplied by the median nerve, counteract the deformity. The ulnar nerve is vulnerable to pressure in the axilla from the use of crutches, but it is most commonly injured at the elbow by fracture or dislocation involving the joint. Delayed ("tardive") ulnar palsy may occur many months or years after an injury to the elbow that had resulted in a cubitus valgus deformity of the joint. Because of the deformity, the nerve is stretched in its groove over the ulnar condyle and its superficial location renders it vulnerable to compression. A syndrome of burning pain (causalgia) and asso ciated symptoms (causalgia) may follow incomplete lesions of the ulnar nerve (or other major nerves of the limbs) and is described further on. Lum bosacral Plexus and Crura l Neuropath ies the twelfth thoracic, first to fifth lumbar, and first, sec ond, and third sacral spinal nerve roots compose the lum bosacral plexuses and innervate the muscles of the lower extremities. A shallow ulnar groove, quite apart from abnormalities of the elbow joint, may expose the nerve to compressive injury from more innocuous situations such as prolonged resting of the arm on the side of a chair or even excessive flexion of the elbow. Anterior transposition of the ulnar nerve is a simple and effective form of treatment for these types of ulnar palsies. The cause may be difficult to ascertain because the primary disease is often not within reach of the palpating fingers, either from the abdominal side or through the anus and vagina; even refined radio logic techniques may not reveal it. Flexion at the elbow causes a narrowing of the tunnel and constriction of the nerve. This type of ulnar palsy is treated by incising the aponeurotic arch between the olecranon and medial epicondyle. Prolonged pressure on the ulnar part of the palm may result in damage to the deep palmar branch of the ulnar nerve, causing weakness of small hand muscles but no sensory loss. The clinical findings help to focus studies on the appropriate part of the lumbosacral plexus. The main effects of upper lumbar plexus lesions are weakness of flexion and adduction of the thigh and Lumbosacral trun k 2 2 3 I nferior gl uteal n. Lower plexus lesions weaken the posterior thigh, leg, and foot muscles and abolish sensation over the first and second sacral segments (sometimes the lower sacral segments also). Lesions of the entire plexus, which occur infrequently, cause weakness or paralysis of all leg muscles with atrophy; areflexia, and anesthesia from the toes to the perianal region and autonomic loss with warm, dry skin. The types of lesions that involve the lumbosacral plexus are rather different from those affecting the bra chial plexus. Cancer, diabetes, and an idiopathic variety (Dyck et al) have dominated our material. Trauma is a rarity except with massive pelvic, spinal, and abdomi nal injuries because the plexus is so well protected. Occasionally, a pelvic fracture will damage the sciatic nerve as it issues from the plexus. In contrast, some part of the plexus may be damaged during surgical procedures on abdominal and pelvic organs, often for reasons that may not be entirely clear. For example, hysterectomy has on a number of occasions led to neurologic consultation in our hospitals because of numbness and weakness of the anterior thigh. Either the cords of the upper part of the plexus or the femoral nerve were compressed by retrac tion against the psoas muscle, or in vaginal hysterectomy (when thighs are flexed, abducted, and externally rotated) the femoral nerve was compressed against the inguinal ligament. Lumbar sympathectomy has also been associated with upper plexus lesions, of which the most disabling sequelae are burning pain and hyper sensitivity of the anterior thigh. Appendectomy, pelvic explorations, and hernial repair may injure branches of the upper plexus (ilioinguinal, iliohypogastric, and geni tofemoral nerves), with severe pain and slight sensory loss in the distribution of one of these nerves. Usually there is pain that radi ates to the hip, the anterior thigh, and occasionally the flank. Slight weakness in hip flexion and altered sensation over the anterior thigh are found on examination. Plexus involvement with tumors is commonplace and presents special difficulties in diagnosis. Carcinoma of either the cervix or prostate may seed along the perineurial lym phatics and cause pain in the groin, thigh, knee, or back without much in the way of sensory, motor, or reflex loss. If all these examinations are negative, exploratory laparotomy may have to be undertaken. In cancer patients, it is sometimes difficult to distin guish the effects of radiation on the lumbosacral plexus from those of metastatic tumor, as is the case in relation to the brachial plexus. Again, the earliest symptom in meta static lumbosacral plexopathy is usually pain, whereas in radiation plexopathy it is weakness (Thomas et al). Fasciculations and myokymia are more likely to be seen in patients with radiation plexopathy, which seem ingly occurs more frequently in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Reference has already been made to femoral nerve injury during parturition, but other puerperal complications are also observed. Back pain in the latter part of pregnancy is, of course, common, but there are instances in which the patient complains of severe pain in the back of one or both thighs during labor and after delivery has numbness and weakness of the leg muscles with diminished ankle jerks. Parturitional lumbosacral plexus injuries occur with a frequency of 1 per 2,000 deliveries. This injury is usually unilateral and is manifest by pain in the thigh and leg and symptoms and signs of involvement of the superior gluteal and sciatic nerves (Feasby et al). The attribution of these symptoms to pressure of the fetal head on the sacral plexus(es) is conjectural. A limited plexopathy, occurring after difficult vaginal delivery, mainly impairs sensation in the perineum and sphincteric function (Ismael et al). Protrusion of an intervertebral disc may also occur dur ing delivery and simulate plexus injury. Idiopathic Lumbosacral Plexitis neuralgic amyotrophy In addition to the diabetic type detailed earlier in the chapter, an idiopathic or lumbosacral plexitis, analogous to the brachial variety, has been observed. Bradley and coworkers have recorded such cases and their paper can be referred to for the clinical details. After causing widespread unilateral or bilateral sensory; motor, and reflex changes in a leg, lumbosacral plexitis may leave the patient with dysesthesias as troublesome as those that follow herpes zoster (which also may occur at this level). Loss of sweating and warmth of the feet indicate interruption of autonomic fibers by lesions in periph eral nerves rather than in roots. Dyck and colleagues inferred an auto immune basis from biopsy material and immunosup pressant drugs were possibly beneficial in 4 of 6 cases reported by Bradley and coworkers. Testicular, uterine, ovarian, and colonic tumors or retroperitoneal lympho mas, by extending along the paravertebral gutter, impli cate various parts of the lumbosacral plexus. Instances of endometriosis that involve the plexus have also been reported, in which case pain fluctuates in parallel with the menstrual cycle (a similar condition exists that impli cates only the sciatic nerve. The neurologic symptoms are projected at a distance in the leg and may or may not be confined to the territory of any one nerve. Pelvic and Diabetic amyotrophy caused by involvement of the lumbar plexus and roots was discussed in an ear lier section ("Diabetic Multiple Mononeuropathies and Radiculoplexus Neuropathy"). The nerve penetrates the psoas muscle, crosses the iliacus, and passes into the thigh by coursing between the attachments of the lateral part of the ingui nal ligament to just anterior to the anterior superior iliac spine. Compression (entrapment) may occur at the point where it passes between the two prongs of attachment of the inguinal ligament. Compression of the nerve results in uncomfortable paresthesias and sensory impairment in its cutaneous distribution, a common condition known as Branches arising within the pelvis supply the iliacus and psoas muscles. Just below the Poupart ligament the nerve splits into anterior and posterior divisions. The former supplies the pectineus and sartorius muscles and carries sensation from the anteromedial surface of the thigh; the posterior division provides the motor innervation to the quadriceps and the cutaneous innervation to the medial side of the leg from the knee to the internal malleolus. The distinction between femoral neuropathy and a third lumbar root lesion is made by detecting weakness of the hip adductor (innervated by the obturator nerve) in the case of the root lesion. Following injury to the femoral nerve, there is weak ness of extension at the knee, wasting of the quadriceps muscle, and failure of fixation of the knee. If the nerve is injured proximal to the origin of the branches to the iliacus and psoas muscles, there is additionally weakness of hip flexion. Usually this is the result of improper placement of retractors, which may compress the nerve directly or indi rectly by undue pressure on the psoas muscle. Bleeding into the iliacus muscle or the retroperitoneum, observed in patients receiving anticoagulants and in hemophilia patients, is a relatively common cause of isolated femoral neuropathy (Goodfellow et al). The presenting symptom of iliacus hematoma is pain in the groin spreading to the lumbar region or thigh, in response to which the patient assumes a characteristic posture of flexion and lateral rotation of the hip. A palpable mass in the iliac fossa and the signs of femoral nerve compression (quadriceps weakness and loss of knee jerk) follow in a day or two. Infarction of the nerve may occur in the course of diabetes mellitus and polyarteritis nodosa. Usually numbness and mild sensitivity of the skin are the only symptoms, but occa sionally there is a persistent distressing burning pain. Perception of touch and pinprick are reduced in the territory of the nerve; there is no weakness of the quad riceps or diminution of the knee jerk. The symptoms are characteristically worsened in certain positions and after prolonged standing or walking. Most often the neuropathy is unilateral, but Ecker and Woltman found to have bilateral symptoms. Most of our patients with meralgia paresthetica request no treatment once they learn of its benign charac ter. Weight loss and adjustment of restrictive clothing or correction of habitual postures that might compress the nerve are sometimes helpful. A few with the most pain ful symptoms have demanded a neurectomy or section of the nerve, but it is always wise to perform a lidocaine block first, so that the patient can decide whether the persistent numbness is preferable. In one specimen of nerve obtained at operation, we found a discrete trau matic neuroma. Corticosteroid injections at the point of entrapment may have helped in a few cases, but not been studied in a systematic way. It supplies the adductors of the thigh and contributes to the innervation of the internal and external rotators. The nerve may be injured by the fetal head or forceps during the course of a difficult labor or compressed by an obtura tor hernia. Rarely, it is affected with diabetes, polyarteritis nodosa, and osteitis pubis and by retroperitoneal spread of carcinoma of the cervix, uterus, and other tumors (Rogers et al). The sciatic nerve supplies motor innervation to the hamstring muscles and all the muscles below the knee through its two divisions, the tibial and peroneal nerves (see later); the sciatic nerve conveys sensory impulses from the posterior aspect of the thigh, the posterior and lateral aspects of the leg, and the entire sole. In complete sciatic paralysis, the knee cannot be flexed and all mus cles below the knee are paralyzed. Weakness of gluteal muscles and pain in the buttock and posterior thigh point to nerve involvement in the pelvis. Lesions beyond the sciatic notch spare the gluteal muscles but not the ham strings. Partial compressive lesions are more common and tend to involve peroneal-innervated muscles more than tibial ones, giving the impression of a peroneal palsy. Rupture of one of the lower lumbar intervertebral discs is the most common cause of sciatica, although it does, of course, not directly involve the sciatic nerve. Within the pelvis it passes along the lateral border of the psoas muscle and enters the thigh beneath the Poupart ligament, lateral to the femoral artery. The nerve may also be affected in diabetic neuropathy and injured by frac tures of the upper end of the fibula. A Baker cyst, which consists of inflamed synovium extending into the retro popliteal space, may compress the nerve, and it may be damaged by muscle swelling or small hematomas behind the knee in asthenic athletes. Tumors of the pelvis (sarcomas, lipomas) or gluteal region may compress the nerve. Sitting for a long period with legs flexed and abducted (lotus position) under the influence of narcot ics or barbiturates or lying flat on a hard surface in a sustained stupor may severely injure one or both sciatic nerves or branches thereof. The nerve may be involved by neurofibromas and infections and by ischemic necrosis in diabetes mellitus and polyarteritis nodosa. Cryptogenic forms of sciatica occur and in a referral practice are more frequent than those of identifiable cause. Partial lesions of the sciatic nerve occasionally result in causalgia (see further on). It is the common Morton neuroma, typically between the third and fourth metatarsals, causes interdigital or subject to surgical section. Also mentioned here is a dis tressingly painful compression of the plantar branches of the sciatic nerve. This nerve passes through the tarsal tunnel, an osseofibrous channel that runs along the medial aspect of the calcaneus and is roofed by the flexor retinaculum. The tunnel also contains the tendons of the tibialis poste rior, flexor digitorum longus, and flexor hallucis longus muscles and the vessels to the foot. The posterior tibial nerve terminates under the flexor retinaculum and divides into medial and lateral plantar nerves (supplying the small muscles of the foot). Complete interruption of the tibial nerve results in a calcaneovalgus deformity of the foot, which can no longer be plantar-flexed and inverted.

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