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2023 APR 8 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Current study results on Musculoskeletal Diseases and Conditions - Myositis Ossificans have [...]

2018 AUG 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Current study results on Musculoskeletal Diseases and Conditions - Myositis have been [...]

2016 SEP 3 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week -- Researchers detail new data in Lupus. According to news reporting out of [...]

PURPOSE: To identify factors associated with responses to treatment with prednisone, methotrexate, or azathioprine in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathy, and to compare the efficacy of these drugs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data were collected on 113 adult patients meeting criteria for definite idiopathic inflammatory myopathy in this retrospective cohort study. Patients were categorized as responding completely, partially, or not at all to each therapeutic trial based upon clinical and laboratory criteria. RESULTS: Clinical group, presence of certain myositis-specific autoantibodies, and time from disease onset to diagnosis influenced rates of complete clinical response to these therapeutic agents. Patients with inclusion body myositis responded comparatively poorly to prednisone and the other drugs: 43% had no clinical response to prednisone and none responded completely to any medication. Patients with autoantibodies to aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases or to signal recognition particle proteins were likely to respond partially, but not completely, to prednisone. No patient with a long delay to diagnosis (greater than 18 months) responded completely, compared with 34% of those with a short delay (less than 3 months). A patient's response to the first course of prednisone predicted subsequent responses to prednisone and to azathioprine better than response to methotrexate. Men responded to methotrexate better than women. Among certain subgroups of patients, responses to methotrexate were better than to either azathioprine or retreatment with prednisone. CONCLUSION: Determining the clinical group, autoantibody status, and time from disease onset to diagnosis of patients with myositis provides useful information in predicting clinical responses to therapy, and these factors should be considered in designing future therapeutic trials. Methotrexate therapy may be superior to either azathioprine or further steroid treatment alone in certain patients who do not respond completely to an initial adequate course of prednisone.

Sjogren's syndrome is a disorder characterized by rheumatoid arthritis (inflammatory joint disease), xerostomia (dryness of the mouth), and keratoconjunctivitis sicca (congestion and dryness of the conjunctiva, the membrane lining the eye and lids). This syndrome usually develops in postmenopausal women and is thought to be a disease of collagen, a structural fiber-like protein. Patients with Sjogren's syndrome may develop myositis, inflammation of the muscle tissue. A case is described of a 65-year-old woman with Sjogren's syndrome and myositis, who responded to treatment with the drug cyclophosphamide, which was given intravenously in pulse doses. The patient developed inflammation, pain, and weakness of the muscle three years after the onset of symptoms of keratoconjunctivitis sicca. Microscopic tissue examination of the muscle revealed several abnormalities, including muscle tissue death, ingestion of muscle fibers by phagocytic cells, and some degree of muscle regeneration. Treatment with methylprednisolone and cyclophosphamide resulted in reduction of symptoms, as indicated by clinical, biochemical, and tissue tests. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

The successful reintroduction of statin therapy after myositis and the possibility of existence of another cause for the disease are analyzed through a practical experience. It is necessary to check thyroid function before starting statin therapy, as hypothyroidism could cause hyperlipidaemia and after the treatment of coexisting hypothyroidism, statin therapy could be carefully reintroduced in patients suffering from myopathy.