Idiopathic Infl ammatory Myopathy: Treatment Options Stephen J. DiMartino, MD, PhD Corresponding author ing PM or IBM can be more diffi cult [ 2 ]. The following Stephen J. DiMartino, MD, PhD noninfl ammatory myopathies and neurologic conditions Weill Medical College, Cornell University; and Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021. can also present with proximal muscle weakness: cen- E-mail:
[email protected] tral and peripheral nervous system disorders, adult-onset Current Rheumatology Reports 2008, 10: 321– 327 muscular dystrophies (eg, limb-girdle muscular dystro- Current Medicine Group LLC ISSN 1523-3774 phy, fascioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, Becker’s Copyright © 2008 by Current Medicine Group LLC muscular dystrophy), metabolic myopathies (eg, phospho- fructokinase defi ciency, acid-maltase defi ciency, carnitine palmityl-transferase II defi ciency, mitochondrial myopa- Idiopathic infl ammatory myopathy (IIM) comprises a thies), endocrine myopathies (eg, hypo- or hyperthyroidism, group of rare disorders in which there is an immune- Cushing’s syndrome, acromegaly), neuromuscular junction mediated attack on skeletal muscle, the consequence of disorders (eg, myasthenia gravis, Eaton-Lambert syndrome), which is muscle damage and weakness in the patient. viral myopathy, and toxic myopathy. As in other infl ammatory diseases, the general approach Today, statin myopathy is frequently considered in to therapy is use of immunosuppressive agents. the differential diagnosis of weakness or myalgia given Many options exist for IIM treatment, but therapeutic these agents’ high use in clinical practice [ 3 ]. Differen- approaches are based mostly on empirical evidence tiation among these entities often can be accomplished and small studies, many of which are uncontrolled.