Abstract

Two patients are described with distinctive clinical features including an insidious onset, slow progression, bilateral ptosis, weakness of facial muscles, dysphagia, muscle atrophy, and weakness with a distal distribution in the extremities, and cardiomopathy with conduction system disorders. Electromyographic studies and muscle biopsy showed features highly suggestive of a myopathic disorder. One case is considered to be sporadic. The other seems to be a familial disorder, because of the presence of a mild atrioventricular block and right incomplete bundle branch block in the patient's son and the presence of eyelid ptosis in his sister. This may be a variant of oculopharyngeal myopathy with distal and cardiomyopathy. It will be necessary to perform long-term follow-up studies in these families.