Histological patterns of muscle in infants with developmental brain abnormalities

The histology of muscle obtained from 23 hypotonic infants without neuromuscular disease is presented. Long-term follow-up neurological examinations were carried out to determine the site of the lesion. 18 cases have strong evidence of cerebral dysfunction, 12 of whom have histologial abnormalities of fiber-type distribution and diameter. Of the remaining five patients without obvious cerebral abnormality, four also had histological changes, but individual circumstances partially explain the cause of the abnormal histological patterns in these four. No single histological abnormality could be identified, but the results indicate that histological abnormalities of muscle in hypotonic infants without clinical or microscopic evidence of neuromuscular disease may be useful in predicting a cerebral cause for the hypotonia.