Adultdermatomyositis: newclassification criteria and modern treatment

Dermatomyositis is a rare inflammatory myopathy that involves muscles, skin and other tissues, including heart, lungs and upper gastrointestinal tract. Dermatomyositis may be a challenge for a physician due to diagnostic difficulties, the absence of well-accepted criteria of disease activity and recurrent course in a proportion of patients. Autoantibody testing has become an important tool for diagnosis of inflammatory myopathies and also to identify subgroups of patients with different clinical phenotypes and prognosis. Patients with dermatomyositis require treatment with high-dose corticosteroids usually in combination with immunosuppressive agents that have steroid-sparing effect. High-dose intravenous immunoglobulin and rituximab may be used in patients who do not respond to standard therapy. Tumour necrosis factorainhibitors can deteriorate myopathy, while the experience of treatment with other biologic agents is limited.

Key words

Inflammatory myopathies, dermatomyositis, diagnosis, treatment.