Autosomal dominant myopathy with congenital joint contractures, ophthalmoplegia, and rimmed vacuoles

We describe a new myopathy in a large family with 19 affected cases. Inheritance was autosomal dominant. Characteristic clinical features were congenital joint contractures, which normalized during early childhood, external ophthalmoplegia, and proximal muscle weakness. Muscle atrophy was most prominent in the pectoralis and quadriceps muscles. The clinical course was nonprogressive in childhood, but most adult cases experienced deterioration of muscle function, starting from 30 to 50 years of age. The major histopathological change of skeletal muscle in childhood was focal disorganization of myofilaments. In adults with progressive muscle weakness, the muscle biopsies showed dystrophic changes and rimmed vacuoles with cytoplasmic and intranuclear inclusions of 15- to 21-nm filaments. These findings suggests that this new disease should be classified as a variant of hereditary inclusion body myopathy.