Patients with late poliomyelitis demonstrate pronounced reinnervation and muscular compensation for a motor neuron loss estimated at greater than 70%.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Caution against underestimating neuron loss in late poliomyelitis despite compensation; extends observations but remains hypothesis-generating.
Patients with prior poliomyelitis may experience muscle function deterioration decades after onset of disease. The present study is aimed at describing electromyographic and morphometric evidence of muscular compensation and of on-going muscular instability. Ten subjects 42-62 years of age with onset of polio 25-52 years earlier were studied with macro EMG, single-fiber EMG (SFEMG), muscle strength measurement, and morphometrical analysis of muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis muscle. SFEMG revealed increased fiber density (FD) and large macro-MUP potentials indicating pronounced reinnervation as compensation to loss of motor neurons. From electrophysiological data of motor unit size, morphometric measures of fiber size, and muscle strength data, the minimal degree of motor neuron loss was estimated to be greater than 70%.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Einarsson et al. (1990) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: