Summary
Muscle hypertrophy is rare in denervating diseases. A patient with calf enlargement associated with L5–S1 radiculopathy and another with thenar, hypothenar, forearm and calf muscle hypertrophy in the course of chronic relapsing inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy are described. Gastrocnemius muscle biopsy revealed both type I and type II fibre hypertrophy in the former case and predominant type I fibre hypertrophy in the latter. Passive stretching and abnormal spontaneous muscular activity might have played a role in the origin of hypertrophy in both patients, but a satisfactory explanation for denervation hypertrophy has yet to be provided.
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Pareyson, D., Morandi, L., Scaioli, V. et al. Neurogenic muscle hypertrophy. J Neurol 236, 292–295 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00314459
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00314459