Diagnosis and Treatment of Muscle Diseases

Muscle, which constitutes almost half of man's total body mass, is frequently the site of intrinsic disease and often is involved in systemic illness. Of the intrinsic diseases of muscle, perhaps muscular dystrophy is the most common, afflicting several hundred thousand persons in the United States alone. Successful treatment of the respiratory infections from which these patients formerly died early in the course of their disease by means of antibiotics, and the frequent spontaneous appearance of this heritable disorder in families unaffected previously will result in an even higher incidence in the years to come. While specific treatment for most diseases of muscle is not available at present, many patients can be benefited materially by sophisticated management. Accurate diagnosis, therefore, is not just an academic exercise. The great variety of diseases to which muscle is subject²,⁷⁹,⁷³are classified in Table 1. Not all of these diseases are discussed here;