Polymyositis - adult

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Superficial anterior muscles

Polymyositis - adult

Symptoms:

Polymyositis is a systemic disease, which means it affects the whole body. Symptoms include:

muscle weakness in the proximal muscles (shoulders, hips, etc.)
muscle pain
difficulty swallowing
shortness of breath
hand tremor

Patients may also have morning stiffness, joint pain, fatigue, anorexia, weight loss, and fever.

Signs and tests:

electromyography
MRI of affected muscles
muscle biopsy
serum creatinine, elevated
serum aldolase, elevated
CPK, elevated

References:

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Harris ED, Budd RC, Genovese MC, Firestein GS, Sargent JS, Sledge CB. Kelley's Textbook of Rheumatology. 7th ed. St. Louis, Mo: WB Saunders; 2005:1312-1316.

Choy E, Hoogendijk J, Lecky B, Winer J. Immunosuppressant and immunomodulatory treatment for dermatomyositis and polymyositis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005 Jul 20;(3):CD003643.

Schnabel A, Hellmich B, Gross WL. Interstitial lung disease in polymyositis and dermatomyositis. Curr Rheumatol Rep. 2005 Apr;7(2):99-105.

Rosenkranz H. Polymyositis. eMedicine. March 10, 2005. Available online at: http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic474.htm. Accessed October 12, 2005.