Variation of muscular structure in congenital insensitivity to pain and anhidrosis

Zamir Shorer, Ruth Shaco-Levy, Vered Pinsk, Leonid Kachko, Jacov Levy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis is a rare disease affecting the nervous system. The patients present with unexplained fever from poor thermoregulation and inability to sweat. Because of the indifference to pain, they manifest frequent traumatic and infectious injuries. Evaluations of these patients include investigation of the hypotonia and weakness evident in this group of patients. We report four patients presenting characteristic features of congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis who carry an identical mutation in the TRK-A gene and who underwent nerve and skeletal muscle biopsies. All four patients had normal sensory and motor conduction studies but lacked sympathetic skin responses. Examination of the skeletal muscles biopsies obtained from two of the patients disclosed marked myopathic changes. The muscle biopsy of a third patient showed mild variation in muscle fibers and the fourth patient's muscle biopsy showed type 1 fiber predominance. Electron microscopy studies revealed remarkable decrease in the number of small caliber-myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers. We assume that the variable histological findings in the muscle biopsies of these patients reflect a variation in congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis patients that is not related to their genetic mutation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)311-313
Number of pages3
JournalPediatric Neurology
Volume48
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
  • Neurology
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Clinical Neurology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Variation of muscular structure in congenital insensitivity to pain and anhidrosis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this