Polymyositis

Methotrexate therapy in polymyositis.

Polymyositis, an inflammatory disorder of skeletal and occasionally cardiac muscle, may present as a myopathy alone, as one manifestation of a multisystem disorder, especially systemic sclerosis (Medsger, Rodnan, Moossy, and Vester, 1968; Thompson, Bluestone, Bywaters, Dorling, and Johnson, 1969; Brock, 1934), systemic lupus erythematosus (White, 1959; Dubois, 1966), and Sjogren's syndrome (Bun...

Fibrosing alveolitis and polymyositis.

There have been five reported instances of polymyositis and diffuse fibrosing alveolitis in the one patient (Mills and Mathews, 1956; Goldfischer and Rubin, 1959; Hyun, Diggs, and Toone, 1962; Pace, Decker, and Martin, 1963; Sandbank, Grunebaum, and Katzenellenbogen, 1966). Additional but less definite cases were reported by Pace et al. (1963), in which the pulmonary changes were more suggestiv...

Primary aldosteronism simulating polymyositis.

Polymyositis and dermatomyositis.

Several techniques have been developed to accomplish these objectives. Open thoracotomy allows for the resection or stapling of apical blebs followed by a mechanical pleu-ral abrasion or parietal pleurectomy to create a pleural symphysis and prevent pneumothorax recurrence. Pneumothorax recurrence rates are less than 1%. However, with the significant postoperative morbidity associated with an o...

Immunosuppressive therapy in polymyositis.

Immunosuppressive drugs were given to seven patients with polymyositis. The in-vitro activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes had previously been studied in five of these patients with findings suggestive of disturbed immunological processes. Some improvement occurred in five cases, but only in two was the improvement marked and sustained. In this small series of cases, the response to treatmen...