SPONTANEOUS MYOHEMOGLOBINURIA IN MAN

Abstract

SPONTANEOUS myohemoglobinuria is a disease characterized by the appearance of myohemoglobin in the urine combined with evidences of muscular dysfunction and without precipitating trauma or toxic agent of apparent importance. Other myohemoglobinurias in man are those resulting from crush injuries and those associated with the ingestion of poisoned eels or fish, called Haff disease. Eight cases of spontaneous myohemoglobinuria have been reported in the literature, the first by Meyer-Betz¹ in 1910. The published cases were summarized by the English workers Bywaters and Dibble² in 1943, who added 1 case of their own; 2 of these cases were in the French literature and the rest in the German literature. Only in Günther's case³ (1924) was the diagnosis confirmed by the necessary spectrographic studies. Since the clinical and laboratory findings in certain hemoglobinurias and in porphyrinuria may simulate those of myohemoglobinuria, the other cases remain equivocal. Louw and