Hand muscle pathology after long-term vibration exposure.

The morphology of the abductor pollicis brevis muscle was studied in 20 patients suffering from hand-arm vibration syndrome. The main morphological changes observed were centrally located myonuclei and fibre type grouping (found in all 20 muscle biopsies), angulated muscle fibres (found in 19 biopsies), ring fibres and regenerating fibres (found in 18 biopsies) and fibrosis (found in 17 biopsies). The observed abnormalities are believed to reflect damage to both the muscle fibres and the motor nerve. The changes were related to different vibration exposure parameters. The number of fibres demonstrating centrally located nuclei correlated significantly with the cumulative vibration exposure, while the number of angulated fibres correlated significantly with the total vibration exposure time. This indicates that the vibrating tools may cause direct damage to muscle fibres as well as nerves.