OBJECTIVES To study myopathies with serum antibodies to the signal recognition particle (SRP), an unusual, myositis specific antibody associated syndrome that has not been well characterised pathologically. METHODS Clinical, laboratory, and myopathological features were evaluated in seven consecutive patients with a myopathy and serum anti-SRP antibodies, identified over three years. The anti...

OBJECTIVE Our aim was to report our experience with inflammatory myositis. MATERIAL AND METHODS In total, 60 patients were evaluated retrospectively, and 43 of them (71.7%) were female. The median age was 45 (17-81). Of all patients, 33 (55%) were diagnosed as polymyositis, 22 (36.6%) as dermatomyositis (classical, amyopathic, and malignancy-associated), and 5 (8.33%) as undifferentiated myos...

Inflammatory myopathies are a heterogeneous group of acquired systemic diseases, which include dermatomyositis (DM), polymyositis (PM), necrotising myopathy (NM) and inclusion body myositis (IBM). All four disease entities share certain clinical characteristics, such as progressive muscle weakness and elevated muscle enzymes. Other characteristic-associated features such as skin involvement in ...

Drugs used for therapeutic interventions either alone or in combination may sometimes cause unexpected toxicity to the muscles, resulting in a varying degree of symptomatology, from mild discomfort and inconvenience to permanent damage and disability. The clinician should suspect a toxic myopathy when a patient without a pre-existing muscle disease develops myalgia, fatigue, weakness or myoglob...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Treatment options for mitochondrial myopathies remain limited despite rapid advances in the understanding of the molecular basis of these conditions. Existing therapies continue to be evaluated and novel treatment strategies are starting to appear on the horizon. RECENT FINDINGS Exercise training continues to show promise as a method of improving exercise tolerance and enhan...