An inflammatory disease that involves skin and muscle. It could be a chronic condition, or sub acute. It comes with a characteristic skin rash and proximal muscle weakness. The skin lesions are usually purplish, involving the nose, cheeks, forehead, upper trunk, and arms. The disease is associated with a complement mediated intramuscular microangiopathy, leading to loss of capillaries, muscle ischemia, muscle-fiber necrosis, and perifascicular at...
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An inflammatory disease that involves skin and muscle. It could be a chronic condition, or sub acute. It comes with a characteristic skin rash and proximal muscle weakness. The skin lesions are usually purplish, involving the nose, cheeks, forehead, upper trunk, and arms. The disease is associated with a complement mediated intramuscular microangiopathy, leading to loss of capillaries, muscle ischemia, muscle-fiber necrosis, and perifascicular atrophy. Dermatomyositis may occur in association with malignant neoplasms.
(From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, pp1405-6)
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