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Start free with EleplanVocal cord and pharyngeal distal myopathy
ORPHA:600Disease
Also called Distal myopathy with vocal cord weakness · MATR3-related distal myopathy · VCPDM
What it is
Vocal cord and pharyngeal distal myopathy (VCPDM) is a rare autosomal dominant distal myopathy characterized by adult onset of muscle weakness in the feet and hands (slowly progressing to involve proximal limb muscles) combined with vocal or swallowing dysfunction and frequent respiratory muscle involvement in later stages. Normal to mildly elevated creatine kinase (CK) serum levels and rimmed-vacuolated dystrophic muscle fiber changes are associated laboratory and pathologic findings.
Key facts
- Prevalence
- <1 / 1 000 000
- Age of onset
- Adult
- Inheritance
- Autosomal dominant
- Classified as
- Disease
Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.
Signs and symptoms
Common30–79%
23- Abnormality of the calf musculature
- Abnormal morphology of musculature of pharynx
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Ankle weaknessDiagnostic criterion
- Aspiration
- Bowing of the vocal cordsDiagnostic criterion
- Bulbar palsy
- Distal muscle weaknessDiagnostic criterion
- Dysarthria
- Dysphagia
- EMG abnormality
- Exercise-induced myalgia
- Gait disturbance
- Hoarse voice
- Hypernasal speech
- Hyperreflexia
- Imperfect vocal cord adduction
- Mildly elevated creatine kinaseDiagnostic criterion
- Respiratory insufficiency due to muscle weakness
- Rimmed vacuolesDiagnostic criterion
- Unsteady gait
- Vocal cord paresis
- Weak voice
Sometimes5–29%
3These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.
Gene
ICD-10 codes
ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.
Related health topics
Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.
Benefit programs to look at
Programs whose eligibility touches the same ICD-10 categories. Eligibility is decided by the administering agency, never by this page.
Cross-references
Orphadata Science: Free access data from Orphanet. © INSERM 1999. Data version 2026-06-23. Available under CC BY 4.0. This is a reference, not medical advice.
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