NINDS Inflammatory Myopathies Information Page

The chronic inflammatory myopathies can’t be cured in most adults but many of the symptoms can be treated.  Options include medication, physical therapy, exercise, heat therapy (including microwave and ultrasound), orthotics and assistive devices, and rest.  Polymyositis and dermatomyositis are first treated with high doses of prednisone or another corticosteroid drug.  This is most often given as an oral medication but can be delivered intravenously.  Immunosuppressant drugs, such as azathioprine and methotrexate, may reduce inflammation in people who do not respond well to prednisone. IBM has no standard course of treatment.  The disease is generally unresponsive to corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs.

Most cases of dermatomyositis respond to therapy.  The prognosis for polymyositis varies.  Most individuals respond fairly well to therapy, but some people have a more severe disease that does not respond adequately to therapies and are left with significant disability.  IBM is generally resistant to all therapies and its rate of progression appears to be unaffected by currently available treatments. 

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), through the collaborative efforts of its National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), conducts and supports a wide range of research on neuromuscular disorders, including the inflammatory myopathies.  The NINDS and NIAMS are funding DNA analyses using microarrays to characterize patterns of muscle gene expression among adult and juvenile individuals with distinct subtypes of inflammatory myopathies.  Findings will be used to refine disease classification and provide clues to the pathology of these disorders.  Other NIH-funded research is studying prior viral infection as a precursor to inflammatory myopathy.  Other research hopes to determine whether the drug infliximab, which blocks a protein that is associated with harmful inflammation, is safe and effective in treating dermatomyositis and polymyositis.