Myoglobinuria

Abstract

<h3>Introduction</h3> Human myoglobinuria has been regarded as a rare syndrome, but, as in other rare syndromes, increasing awareness has led to an increasing number of reports. The first description is usually attributed to Meyer-Betz in 1910,⁹⁶and there have been about 118 cases in the world literature until the present, 103 since 1951 (Table 1). The total of 118 is only an approximation because selection of cases has been somewhat arbitrary. On the one hand, the urinary pigment has not been strictly identified in all cases (although the clinical and pathological descriptions were felt to be compatible with the diagnosis). On the other hand, the compilation includes only those cases considered to be primarily "idiopathic," not those due to exogenous causes, but this distinction is not precise. Furthermore, some cases of probable myoglobinuria have been reported with other diagnoses and have not been included.^43,48,49It is a major