Table 3 Muscle pathology in myopathies with selectively high serum aldolase: comparative features

	IIM group (75 biopsies)		Aldolase+ group (12 biopsies)		p Value (IIM vs Ald+)	Jo-1 group (14 biopsies)		p Value (Jo-1 vs Ald+)
	No +ve	% +ve	No +ve	% +ve	p Value (IIM vs Ald+)	No +ve	% +ve	p Value (Jo-1 vs Ald+)
Inflammation, cell foci
Perimysial	19	25	0	0	0.06	1	7	1.0
Endomysial	45	60	3	25	0.03	2	14	1.0
Perivascular, med size vessel	29	39	2	17	0.20	2	14	1.0
Muscle fibre features
Enlarged muscle fibres	20	27	0	0	0.06	0	0	1.0
Perifascicular
Atrophy	20	27	7	58	0.04	12	86	0.20
Necrosis and regeneration	10	13	4	33	0.09	7	50	0.45
COX stain reduced	7	9	2	17	0.60	1	7	1.0
Regional necrosis	4	5	0	0	1.0	0	0	1.0
MHC I on muscle fibre surface	64	85	10	83	1.0	13	93	0.58
Perimysium
Fragmentation	17	23	9	75	<0.001	13	93	0.31
Alkaline phosphatase+	30	40	7	58	0.35	12	86	0.19
AcP+ cells	21	28	10	83	<0.001	12	86	1.0
Endomysium
Increased connective tissue	13	17	0	0	0.20	1	7	1.0
C_5b-9 deposition, diffuse	15	20	0	0	0.12	2	7	0.48
Capillaries
Reduced number	11	15	1	8	1.0	0	7	1.0
Enlarged size	14	19	0	0	0.20	1	7	1.0
Alkaline phosphatase stain	11	15	0	0	0.35	1	7	1.0
C5b-9 deposition	18	24	2	17	0.73	1	7	1.0

Perimysial pathology, with fragmentation and acid phosphatase positive cellularity, were the only pathological features that differed from the IIM group.
% +ve, per cent of biopsies positive; Ald+, patients with selectively elevated aldolase; alkaline phosphatase stain, increased number of endomysial capillaries with positive staining; IIM, immune or inflammatory myopathy group; inflammation, cell foci, foci of mononuclear inflammatory cells; No +ve, number of biopsies positive; Jo-1, patients with myopathies associated with serum anti-Jo-1 antibodies.