1996 年 43 巻 4 号 p. 249-257
Sternothyroid muscle biopsy specimens, obtained during tracheostomies from 15 patients with acute stroke and respiratory failure, were examined immunohistochemically to immunoreactivity to myoglobin (Mb). A marked decrease or lack of Mb immunoreactivity in association with hyaline degeneration was observed in 0.8 to 44.4% of the muscle fibers on both the paretic and non-paretic sides of all patients. The percentages of negative staining for Mb were less than 3.1% in 5 patients with acute respiratory failure due to causes other than stroke. The pattern and incidence of attenuated Mb immunoreactivity in the muscle fibers was found to be distinctively different in the two patients groups. In one group of 5 patients, a large number of muscle fibers (24.8±15.6%) had no Mb staining and were clearly bordered and grouped. In another 10-patient group, only a limited number of muscle fibers (3.3±2.5%) had no staining for Mb and these fibers were scattered. Four patients in the former group had catastrophic outcomes, while all the patients in the latter group survived. Ischemia, produced by an increase in catecholamines, and the consequent vasocon-striction, rather than hypoxemia seemed to be the cause of the negative immunoreactivity for Mb in the group pattern. In contrast, hypoxemia may have caused the scattered pattern of negative Mb immunoreactivity. It was concluded that negative immunostaining for Mb in muscle fibers represents a common and characteristic complication in acute stroke patients.
