الفهرس 
IntroductiionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Inflammatory muscle diseases (IMDs) are a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by varied patterns of inflammation within skeletal muscle. The major disease categories among the IMDs are polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM), inclusion body myositis (IBM), myositis associated with connective tissue diseases, and myositis associated with malignancy. The aim of this work is to review and discuss aetiopathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory muscle diseases with special interest to the recent advances in this entity. Loss of muscle function may be caused by combined mechanisms including immune-mediated muscle fiber damage as well as non–immune-mediated muscle impairment. IMDs are often associated with severe muscle weakness. Myositis can also affect other organ systems including the skin, joints, lungs, heart, and gastrointestinal system. All IMDs patients should be screened for interstitial lung disease at initial evaluation. Testing for serum autoantibodies is helpful both in diagnosis and in predicting the clinical phenotype and response to therapy. Early diagnosis and timely initiation of therapy is essential, since both DM and PM respond better to early commencement of immunotherapeutic agents. Accumulating evidence suggests that physical exercise has beneficial effects for patients with myositis without exacerbating disease progression. Some muscle diseases respond to little extent to medical treatment; while, in most patients, many of physical disabilities can be to some extent improved or prevented.