Spheroid-cytoplasmic complexes in a congenital myopathy.

The most striking pathological finding in the deltoid muscle biopsy specimens of 2 unrelated adult male patients consisted of large spheroid-cytoplasmic complexes of intricate structure, as previously described only under experimental conditions (Chou and Mizuno, 1986). These large cytoplasmic masses were characterized by a granular centre and a filamentous halo. Immunohistology revealed the presence of intermediate filaments of the desmin and vimentin types. Clinically, both patients showed mild and slowly progressive proximal myopathy of adult onset. In one patient, the myopathy was strongly suspected to be inherited. In concordance with previous reports on cytoplasmic and spheroid body congenital myopathies, these spheroid-cytoplasmic bodies further enlarge the spectrum of late onset congenital myopathies.