What is it about?
Patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy are predispose to bone fractures, due to ambulation loss, bone density reduction induced by steroids and obesity. Approximately 25% of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy have a long bone fracture, and 1% to 22% of fractures have a chance to develop fat embolism syndrome, an underdiagnosed complication. This study shows the importance to include fat embolism syndrome as a hypothesis in Duchenne patients presenting fractures or an unexplained and sudden worsening of respiratory and cardiac symptoms.
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Why is it important?
We advocate the importante of Fat Embolism's prevention, early diagnosis and adequate symptomatic treatment, as this event may be unnoticed in patients with Duchenne, as they already present progressive cardiac and respiratory muscle dysfunction. This measure could prevent complications and mortality.
Perspectives
Writing this article was important to understand that this condition is more frequent in neuromuscular patients than we realize. We could do much more to our patients if we give more importance to fractures , even minor ones, and to clinical changes, even subtle alterations, as they can be somenthing more than they seem.
Miriam Koch
Faculty of Medicine of ABC
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Fat embolism after fractures in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: an underdiagnosed complication? A systematic review, Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management, October 2017, Dove Medical Press,
DOI: 10.2147/tcrm.s143317.
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