Diagnostic biopsy of muscular diseases in dogs

`The diagnosis of muscular diseases is based on histochemical and immunohistochemical methods which can only be performed on unfixed tissue. This is the main reason for the fact that the investigation of muscle is not yet fully established in veterinary pathology. But since tissue samples can now be delivered even over long distances within 24 hours to a muscle laboratory, muscle can be investigated lege artis. Even if an etiopathological diagnosis is not always possible, at least discrimination of primary muscular diseases, neurogenic disorders, and inflammatory diseases can be done. This is of interest not only for therapy and prognosis, but has also hereditary aspects, since neuromuscular diseases can have a genetical background. Here we describe our system for the diagnosis of muscular diseases including the resection, packing and transport of the biopsy specimens, and the methods used in muscle diagnosis, and we present examples of neurogenic atrophy, metabolic-toxic disease, immunopathological disease, muscular dystrophy and protozoic myositis.