Antisynthetase syndrome (AS) is strongly associated with the presence of antibodies to aminoacyl-transfer RNA (tRNA) synthetases (ARSs) that are implicated in the pathogenesis of myositis and interstitial lung disease (ILD). Antibodies against eight antisynthetases have been identified and are detected in 16–26% of patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM).1 Serum assays for five of these…
SAN FRANCISCO—An athletic 19-year-old male has an episode of rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle tissue that leads to contents of muscle fiber in the blood, after weight-lifting and basketball drills. But his labs come back normal. He cuts down on his exercise, but has a second episode four months later, then finally sees a rheumatologist…
SAN FRANCISCO—A 40-year-old woman shows up in the clinic with scarring alopecia, with an area of hyperpigmentation on the rim of her scalp, extending from just behind the temple to behind her ears. An examination with a dermatoscope shows hyperkeratotic follicular plugging. The case—in this example, the discoid form of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (DLE)—is one…
SAN FRANCISCO—A 40-year-old woman shows up in the clinic with scarring alopecia, with an area of hyperpigmentation on the rim of her scalp, extending from just behind the temple to behind her ears. An examination with a dermatoscope shows hyperkeratotic follicular plugging. The case—in this example, the discoid form of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (DLE)—is one…
Inside the pathophysiology, clinical presentations of chronic pruritus
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
Rheumatologists offer tips for diagnosing and treating these diseases
Differentiating between subgroups of myositis is a diagnostic challenge for physicians, but using some guiding principles can be helpful,
Captain Lisa Rider, MD, a physician-scientist and clinical researcher at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., was named 2011 Physician Researcher of the Year by the Physicians Professional Advisory Committee of the United States Public Health Service. The award was presented in recognition of her basic and clinical research into myositis. Her recent research findings have included: definitions of improvement as a primary composite endpoint for myositis clinical trials, discovery of a novel autoantibody in juvenile dermatomyositis and discovery of new immunogenetic risk factors for juvenile myositis. Her epidemiologic and clinical studies in myositis have made substantial contributions to public health practice.
June’s Coding Answer