A French study involving clinicians from the Institute of Myology reports several new and disturbing cases of patients with two co-existing neuromuscular pathologies:
- firstly, facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), proven by molecular biology, and secondly, myositis authenticated by the presence of specific autoantibodies,
- of the 5 cases of this type identified in the myositis database of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital (1,750 cases listed) and the Italian Sant’Andrea Hospital (200 FHSD), two had initially been diagnosed as FSHD,
- for two others, myositis preceded the diagnosis of FSHD,
- in the last case, the two diagnoses were made at the same time.
The authors put forward a number of hypotheses to explain the reasons for this association, which may not be purely coincidental.
