Mitochondrial myopathy are a type of myopathy associated with mitochondrial disease.

Treatment

Although no cure currently exists, there is some hope for a treatment for this whole class of hereditary diseases with the use of an embryotic mitochindrial transplant. ^[1]

Examples

Examples of Mitochondrial myopathy include:

• Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like syndrome (MELAS)
  • varying degrees of cognitive impairment and dementia
  • lactic acidosis
  • strokes
  • transient ischemic attacks
  • hearing loss
  • dysmotility
  • weight loss

• Myoclonic epilepsy and ragged-red fibers (MERRF)
  • progressive myoclonic epilepsy
  • clumps of diseased mitochondria accumulate in the subsarcolemmal region of the muscle fiber and appear as "ragged-red fibers" when muscle is stained with modified Gomori trichrome stain
  • short stature

• Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS)
  • external ophthalmoplegia
  • cardiac conduction defects
  • Sensorineural hearing loss

• Progressive external ophthalmoplegia (PEO)
  • progressive ophthalmoparesis is the cardinal feature
  • symptomatic overlap with many other mitochondrial myopathies

References