characteristics of intestinal pseudo-obstruction in patients with mitochondrial diseases

AIM: To reveal the frequency, characteristics and prognosis of chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIP) in mitochondrial disease patients. METHODS: Between January 2000 and December 2010, 31 patients (13 males and 18 females) were di-agnosed with mitochondrial diseases at our hospital. We conducted a retrospective review of the patients' sex, subclass of mitochondrial disease, age at onset of mitochondrial disease, frequency of CIP and the age at its onset, and the duration of survival. The age at onset or at the first diagnosis of the disorder that led to the clinical suspicion of mitochondrial disease was also examined. RESULTS: Twenty patients were sub-classified with mitochondrial encephalopathy with lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS), 8 with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO), and 3 with myoclonus epilepsy associated with ragged-red fibers (MERRF). Nine patients were diagnosed with CIP, 8 of the 20 (40.0%) patients with MELAS, 0 of the 8 (0.0%) patients with CPEO, and 1 of the 3 (33.3%) patients with MERRF. The median age (range) at the diagnosis and the median age at onset of mitochondrial disease were 40 (17-69) and 25 (12-63) years in patients with CIP, and 49 (17-81) and 40 (11-71) years in patients without CIP. During the survey period, 5 patients (4 patients with MELAS and 1 with CPEO) died. The cause of death was cardiomyopathy in 2 patients with MELAS, cerebral infarction in 1 patient with MELAS, epilepsy and aspiration pneumonia in 1 patient with MELAS, and multiple metastases from gastric cancer and aspiration pneumonia in 1 patient with CPEO. CONCLUSION: Patients with CIP tend to have disorders that are suspected to be related to mitochondrial diseases at younger ages than are patients without CIP.

Progress in Diagnosing Mitochondrial Myopathy, Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis, and Stroke-like Episodes

Objective： Mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes （MELAS） is a progressive, multisystem affected mitochondrial disease associated with a number of disease-related defective genes. M ELAS has unpredictable presentations and clinical course, and it can be commonly misdiagnosed as encephalitis, cerebral infarction, or brain neoplasms. This review aimed to update the diagnosis progress in MELAS, which may provide better understanding of the disease nature and help make the right diagnosis as well. Data Sources： The data used in this review came fi-om published peer review articles from October 1984 to October 2014, which were obtained fiom PubMed. The search term is ＂MELAS＂, Study Selection： lnfornmtion selected from those reported studies is mainly based on the progress on clinical tkatures, blood biochemistry, neuroimaging, muscle biopsy, and genetics in diagnosing MELAS. Results： MELAS has a wide heterogeneity in genetics and clinical manifestations. The relationship between mutations and phenotypes remains unclear. Advanced serial functional magnetic resonance imaging （MRI） can provide directional information on this disease. Muscle biopsy has meaningflil value in diagnosing MELAS, which shows the presence of ragged red fibers and mosaic appearance of cytochrome oxidase negative fibers. Genetic studies have reported that approximately 80% of MELAS cases are caused by the lnutation in.3243A〉G of the mitochondrial transfer RNA （Leu （UU R）） gene （MT-TLI）. Conclusions： MELAS involves multiple systems with variable clinical symptoms and recurrent episodes. The prognosis of MELAS patients depends on timely diagnosis. Therefore, overall diagnosis of MELAS should be based on the maternal inheritance family history, clinical manifestation, and findings from serial MR1, muscle biopsy, and genetics.