Please provide a simple explanation of Rhabdomyolysis using laymen's
terminology. What are its causes? What are its symptoms? What tests
are used to diagnose Rhabdomyolysis? What types of damage can it do to
the body? How is it treated? Please include a few helpful links to
pages with more detailed information and, if possible, links to some
images that would be relevant to Rhabdomyolysis.

Here are several links to explanations of rhabdomyolysis in layman's
terms.  I am a layman too, and personally I think that the first link,
from MEDLINEplus, is the most helpful and comprehensive.  However, the
other pages seem good too, especially if you want even more concise
descriptions.  (I would be happy to summarize these pages if you'd
like; but I thought it would be better to let the pages speak for
themselves, since they use layman's terms already.)

"Medical Encyclopedia: Rhabdomyolysis", updated by Andrew Koren, M.D.
(11/30/01)
U.S. National Library of Medicine: MEDLINEplus 
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000473.htm

"Rhabdomyolysis", by iMcKesson Clinical Reference Products
Apria Healthcare
http://www.apria.com/resources/ap_res_adv_show/0,1278,108-198-R-415,00.htm

"Rhabdomyolysis", by Thomson MICROMEDEX
Medformation.com
http://www.medformation.com/mf/mm_qdis.nsf/qd/nd2343g.htm

"Rhabdomyolysis"
BreatheWell.com
http://www.breathewell.com/Critical_Care/Rhabdomyolysis/rhabdomyolysis.html

"Rhabdomyolysis"
Albemarle Pulmonary Medical Associates, PA (APMA)
http://apma-nc.com/PatientEducation/rhabdomyolysis.htm

There are also numerous pages on rhabdomyolysis in connection with the
ongoing Baycol litigation.  You can find many of them with a search on
Google for rhabdomyolysis and Baycol.  Most of the sites are sponsored
by lawyers or law firms; here is a page from the Food and Drug
Administration.

"Baycol: Questions and Answers", last updated August 08, 2001
U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Center for Drug Evaluation and
Research
http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/baycol/baycol-qa.htm

Finally, here is an image of the damage to cells resulting from
rhabdomyolysis.

"In Graphic Detail", Fall 1998
The Spiral Notebook
http://www.spiralnotebook.org/ingraphicdetail/ [near bottom of the
page]

- justaskscott-ga


Search terms used on Google:

rhabdomyolysis
rhabdomyolysis baycol

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Request for Answer Clarification by informationseeker-ga on 27 Sep 2002 07:26 PDT

Please go ahead and summarize the pages. Thanks.

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Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 27 Sep 2002 08:50 PDT

I'm rushing off to do some errands, so I may not be able to work on
this until this evening or tomorrow.  I hope that is okay.

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Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 27 Sep 2002 20:47 PDT

Here's a summary of the pages:

Condition:  When injured muscles release pigments into the
bloodstream, damaging the kidneys.

Causes:  Exercising much more than usual; crushing of muscles;
seizures; drug or alcohol abuse; infections; inherited problems; or
various other causes.

Symptoms:  Red, brown, or cola-colored urine; muscle pain; weakness;
and other possible symptoms.

Tests:  Lab tests of urine and blood.

Damage:  Damage to kidneys, which can lead to kidney failure, failure
of other organs, and even death.

Treatments:  Large amounts of fluids; medicines to make urine alkaline
or increase urination.

By the way, you can ignore one of the links I provided; the
information from BreatheWell.com is a duplicate of the information
from Apria Healthcare.

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Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 28 Sep 2002 14:35 PDT

I'm sorry that you are disappointed by my answer.  I wish that you had
asked for additional clarification before submitting your rating.  I
was under the impression that what you meant by a "simple explanation"
was available on the web pages (along with more detailed information,
especially from the MEDLINEplus site), and that when you wanted a
summary of these web pages, you wanted an even more simple
explanation.

Anyway, I hope that you are now better informed about rhabdomyolysis
than you were previously.

My question asked for a simple explanation of Rhabdomyolysis using
laymen's terminology. What I got was a list of links. If all I wanted
was links I would search myself or simply ask for links. I requested a
clarification, asking the researcher to summarize the pages, but got
very little information. For example, in answer to the question "What
tests
are used to diagnose Rhabdomyolysis?' the researcher wrote "Lab tests
of urine and blood." I would have expected more of an explanation than
that.

The use of cholesterol-lowering medications (statins) remain quite the
controversial issue.  Just this past week Reuters Health had an
article about concerns that current lab tests may miss muscle damage
effects of statins and that muscle biopsies may be required on the
most severely affected patients.   You can read that article here: 
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_9509.html

This site is mentioned in the article as a means for tracking the
extent of muscle-related complaints.
http://www.impostertrial.com

You asked about the names of the tests used to determine
rhabdomyolosis.  These are usually grouped under the heading of "liver
function tests" -- mainly an AST/ALT (or SGOT/SGPT) and CK (or CPK).  
The specific tests and frequency with which these tests are done are
up to your physician.   Here is a list of these tests via Medline:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003436.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003503.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003472.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003473.htm

This article is a bit more on the clinical side but is very
comprehensive piece on statins and other lipid-lowering agents:
http://bnf.vhn.net/bnf/documents/bnf.577.html

"CAUTIONS: Statins should be used with caution in those with a history
of liver disease or with a high alcohol intake (use should be avoided
in active liver disease). Liver function tests should be carried out
before and within 1–3 months of starting treatment and thereafter at
intervals of 6 months for 1 year, unless indicated sooner by signs or
symptoms suggestive of hepatotoxicity. Treatment should be
discontinued if serum transaminase concentration rises to, and
persists at, 3 times the upper limit of the reference range. Patients
should be advised to report unexplained muscle pain."

The effects of long-term use of statin therapy hasn't been determined
to any degree and every patient must assess the risk-to-benefit ratio
with their physician.  I hope this information is helpful to you.

Regards,
V

in the proper setting, one can suspect rhabdomyolysis by seeing that
the urine is pink. Blood tests for specific muscle enzymes (proteins),
especially one called "CPK" can easily confirm it. In simple terms,
rhabdomyolysis is the breaking (lysis) of red (rhabdo) muscle (myo)
cells. It can be caused by direct trauma, various drugs, lack of blood
supply. Its most damaging effect is plugging up of the filtering
apparatus of the kidneys by the proteins, which leads to kidney
failure. How's that for simple laymen terms?

PS: symptoms can have to do with the cause: pain in the area of muscle
injury which would be localized if due to trauma or lack of blood
supply, and generalized if due to drugs,etc. Treatment in the early
stages is to try to flush the kidneys by providing (massive) amouts of
fluids and/or using medications which cause high urine flow
(diuretics). Once kidney damage has occured, it depends on the
severity: it might resolve with no specific treatment, or it could
lead to need for a kidney machine (dialysis); either short-term or
permanent. If permanent, then kidney transplant is an option.