Polymyositis & Dermatomyositis Support Group
Polymyositis (PM) is a type of chronic inflammation of the muscles (inflammatory myopathy) related to dermatomyositis and inclusion body myositis. The inflammation is predominantly of the endomysium in polymyositis, whereas dermatomyositis is characterized by primarily perimysial inflammation.
I was supposed to see my surgeon tomorrow for a check up and the results of my muscle biopsy I had last Thursday. The doctors nurse just called me and said they want to reschedule my appointment to the 28th because my results are not back yet. I asked her if she knew why they were being held up and she said they had to send them out for some special staining. Does anyone know what this means??? The surgeon did tell me at my consutation that sometimes they have to do that. I'm just curious as to what this may indicate. Anyone else hae this experience with their muslce biopsy? Thanks! :)
Special Stains
The special stain procedures are very useful tools to assist the pathologist in his/her diagnosis of the patient biopsy tissue sample. These special stains can confirm the pathologists diagnosis or the results from the special stain can redirect the pathologist to further investigation.
What do special stains represent and why do we do them? With special stains we can show specific tissue characteristics that need to be independently identified for assisting in an accurate diagnosis.
Blessings,
Kim
Not all commercial labs are equipped to do muscle biopsies to diagnose PM, DM, or IBM. They're usually sent to research labs (e.g., Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, etc.) where an electron micropscope and specially trained pathologists are available. Most of us have to wait as long as 3-6 weeks for results because these labs are extremely busy. Just another exercise in patience - hang in there!
~Lucky
The same thing happened to me but it extended it from 1 month to 2 months wait. They do different stains to show different characteristics/abnormalities in the muscle. It was difficult waiting but because they did the extra tests they found a diagnosis for me. The first tests said that I didn't have IBM, the additional tests showed that I definitely had IBM.
Hang tight. It is good that they are looking further for you.
Kim