Juvenile hereditary polyglucosan body disease with complete branching enzyme deficiency (type IV glycogenosis)

Polyglucosan body diseases in adults, contrary to infantile cases (Andersen's disease or type IV glycogenosis or amylopectinosis), are usually not associated with a significant deficiency of the branching enzyme (= amylo-1,4-1,6 transglucosidase). We, therefore, report on a 19-year-old male with complete branching enzyme deficiency presenting with severe myopathy, dilative cardiomyopathy, heart failure, dysmorphic features, and subclinical neuropathy. His 14-year-old brother had similar symptoms and was erroneously classified by a previous muscle biopsy as having central core disease but could later be identified as also having polyglucosan body myopathy. The skeletal muscle, endomyocardiac, and sural nerve biopsies as well as the autopsy revealed extraordinarily severe deposits of polyglucosan bodies not only in striated and smooth muscle fibers, but also in histiocytes, fibroblasts, perineurial cells, axons and astrocytes. Occasional paracrystalline mitochondrial inclusions were also noted. Thus, this patient represents to our knowledge the first juvenile, familial case of polyglucosan body disease with total branching enzyme deficiency and extensive polyglucosan body storage.