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Dermatomyositis

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment

Treatment:

The disease is treated with anti-inflammatory medicines called corticosteroids and drugs that suppress the immune system.

When your muscle strength gets better, your doctor may tell you to slowly cut back on your doses. However, most persons with this condition must take a medicine called prednisone indefinitely.

If the condition is associated with a tumor , the muscle weakness and rash may improve when the tumor is removed.

Expectations (prognosis):

Some people may recover and have symptoms completely disappear. Doctors have reported several such cases, especially in children.

In adults, death may result from severe and prolonged muscle weakness, malnutrition, pneumonia , or lung failure. The outcome is usually worse if the heart or lungs are involved.

Complications:

• Acute renal failure
• Cancer ( malignancy )
• Inflammation of the heart
• Joint pain
• Lung disease

Calling your health care provider:

Call for an appointment with your health care provider if you have muscle weakness or other symptoms of this condition.

• Review Date: 4/12/2007
• Reviewed By: Kevin Berman, MD, PhD, Associate, Atlanta Center for Dermatologic Disease, Atlanta, GA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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