Jason Liebowitz, MD | Issue: June 2021 |
Although initially given as replacement therapy for patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiency states, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) has proven to be effective in the treatment of various autoimmune and inflammatory disorders. This success has led to a dramatic increase in the use of IVIg, with its use as an antiinflammatory agent now vastly surpassing its use in the treatment of immunodeficiencies. Even so, the basis for the antiinflammatory activity of IVIg remains unclear.
In recent years, scientists and clinicians have learned a great deal about autoantibodies occurring in idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs). These new discoveries have reshaped our understanding of distinct clinical phenotypes in IIMs. Scientists continue to learn more about how these autoantibodies shape pathophysiology, diagnosis, disease monitoring, prognosis and optimum treatment. Moving forward, these autoantibodies will…
Without a single set of diagnostic criteria for identifying polymyositis, dermatomyositis, or myositis and scant evidence-based therapeutic guidelines, these rare muscle diseases can be hard to manage
CHICAGO—At Hot Topics in Myositis, a session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, three experts discussed new classification criteria for idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) and offered practical primers on overlap myositis conditions and inclusion body myositis (IBM). New Myositis Classification Criteria After a 10-year development process, the new EULAR/ACR Classification Criteria for Adult and Juvenile…