Abstract
The occurrence of muscular pathologies in AZT treated subjects has been evaluated in 67 HIV seropositive outpatients (56 AZT-treated and 11 untreated controls) in a neurological clinical and paraclinical follow-up study. Standard electromyographic and electrodiagnostic examinations, together with muscle enzyme determination, were performed in every subject, and periodically repeated at fixed intervals; in 11 patients a muscle biopsy sample was also obtained. An AZT-related myopathy was diagnosed in 8 biopsied cases; 9 more patients were considered to have AZT myopathy on clinical, EMG and ex juvantibus criteria. Statistical analysis showed that treatment duration was more relevant to the development of the myopathy than AZT dosage, though an individual predisposition could not be excluded, at least in a small number of cases. The risk of developing a toxic myopathy will therefore have to be considered when evaluating long-term effects of AZT therapy.
Sommario
Il manifestarsi di patologie muscolari in soggetti in terapia con AZT è stato valutato in una popolazione di 67 pazienti ambulatoriali sieropositivi (56 in trattamento con AZT ed 11 soggetti di controllo non in terapia) che partecipavano ad uno studio longitudinale di follow-up neurologico clinico e paraclinico. In ogni soggetto sono stati effettuati l'esame elettromiografico standard e l'elettrodiagnostico, nonché la determinazione degli enzimi muscolari, tutti ripetuti nel tempo ad intervalli fissi; in 11 pazienti è state inoltre eseguita una biopsia muscolare. Una miopatia correlata all'AZT è stata riscontrata in 8 casi sottoposti a biopsia muscolare; altri 9 pazienti sono stati considerati affetti da miopatia da AZT sulla base di criteri clinici, elettromiografici ed ex-iuvantibus). L'analisi statistica ha mostrato che la durata del trattamento appare avere un'importanza maggiore rispetto ai dosaggi nel determinare la comparsa della miopatia, benché in rari casi non si possa escludere una predisposizione individuale. Il rischio di sviluppare una miopatia tossica deve pertanto essere preso in considerazione quando si valutano gli effetti della terapia a lungo termine con AZT.
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Granted by Istituto Superiore di Sanità/IV AIDS Research Project 1991
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Spadaro, M., Tilia, G., Massara, M.C. et al. Myopathy in long-term AZT therapy: Clinical, electrophysiological and biopsy study in 67 HIV+subjects. Ital J Neuro Sci 14, 369–374 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02340724
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02340724