Inflammatory Muscle Diseases

Abstract

Inflammatory myopathies, also called idiopathic inflammatory myopathy or myositis, are rare conditions characterized by the involvement of various organs in addition to muscle tissue. These changes can lead to severe impairments and adversely impact the quality of life of affected individuals. The diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory myopathies involve the participation of an interdisciplinary team, due to the complexity of the disease and the high variety of possible signs and symptoms. In this chapter we will discuss the epidemiology and characteristics of the main subtypes of inflammatory myopathies, such as polymyositis, dermatomyositis, necrotizing myopathy, overlap myositis, and myositis of inclusion bodies. Next, we will discuss the existence of crosstalk between inflammatory processes in the oral cavity and their consequences on skeletal muscle. As oral inflammation can increase infiltration of macrophages in muscle tissue and this increase is related to the production of proinflammatory cytokines in this tissue, these cytokines can cause muscle weakness. It is important to consider the prevention of chronic inflammatory processes in order to maintain muscle integrity or even prevent the worsening of the clinical condition of patients with inflammatory muscle diseases.

A Rare Case Seen in a Patient with Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) Intolerance: Autoimmune Myopathy

“…Rapid response to steroid treatment reassures an underlying autoimmune disorder in our patient who had no history of traumatic injury, medication nor chronic illness may lead to rhabdomyolysis. In our case, the diagnosis of dermatomyositis and polymyositis were excluded because there was no skin lesion and the findings were regressed with the treatment unlike them (12). The inclusion-body myositis diagnosis was excluded with a response to steroid therapy (13).…”