- Rhabdomyolysis
- A condition in which skeletal muscle cells break down, releasing myoglobin (the oxygen-carrying pigment in muscle) together with enzymes and electrolytes from inside the muscle cells. The risks with rhabdomyolysis include muscle breakdown and kidney failure since myoglobin is toxic to the kidneys. Rhabdomyolysis most often occurs as the result of extensive muscle damage as, for example, from a crushing injury or electrical shock. Drugs or toxins, particularly some of the cholesterol lowering medications such as cerivastatin (Baycol), may cause this disorder. Underlying diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus can also lead to rhabdomyolysis.
* * *An acute, fulminating, potentially fatal disease of skeletal muscle that entails destruction of muscle, as evidenced by myoglobinemia and myoglobinuria. [rhabdo- + G. mys, muscle, + lysis, loosening]- acute recurrent r. [MIM*268200] repeated paroxysmal attacks of muscle pain and weakness followed by passage of dark red-brown urine, often precipitated by intercurrent illness and diagnosed by demonstration of myoglobin in the urine; it is attributed to abnormal phosphorylase activity in skeletal muscle, but there may be more than one biologic type; probably autosomal recessive inheritance. In some cases, at least, there is deficiency of carnitine palmitoyl transferase. SYN: familial paroxysmal r..
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rhab·do·my·ol·y·sis .rab-dō-mī-'äl-ə-səs n, pl -y·ses -.sēz the destruction or degeneration of skeletal muscle tissue (as from traumatic injury, excessive exertion, or stroke) that is accompanied by the release of muscle cell contents (as myoglobin and potassium) into the bloodstream resulting in hypovolemia, hyperkalemia, and sometimes acute renal failure* * *
rhab·do·my·ol·y·sis (rab″do-mi-olґĭ-sis) [rhabdo- + myo- + -lysis] disintegration or dissolution of muscle, associated with excretion of myoglobin in the urine.
Medical dictionary. 2011.
