ALCOHOLIC MYOPATHY - EVALUATION WITH MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING - A CASE-STUDY

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of thigh and leg muscles was performe d in a patient viith alcoholic myopathy showing myalgia, hypercreatine kinasemia, and hypermyoglobinemia. High signal intensities in both T- 1- and T-2-weighted images were widely distributed in the affected mus cle groups, which most likely reflected lipid accumulation. Although h e had hypermyoglobinemia, MRI and muscle biopsy did not show findings of rhabdomyolysis, such as necrosis, regeneration, and edema, We sugge st that the high signal intensities in this case may have indicated '' prerhabdomyolysis'' related to alcohol abuse and that muscle MRI is us eful in file evaluation of alcoholic myopathy, mainly predicting the o nset of rhabdomyolysis.