Treatment of dermatomyositis

Dermatomyositis causes serious harm to the patient's body. The occurrence of dermatomyositis not only affects the patient's muscles but also the patient's lungs and heart. Dermatomyositis also causes damage to the patient's skin and kidneys. Therefore, once we suffer from dermatomyositis, we must find a way to treat dermatomyositis. However, we currently do not know much about the cause of dermatomyositis.

The cause of dermatomyositis is still unclear, which makes it difficult for us to treat it, but we are not without solutions. We can use glucocorticoids and immunosuppressants to treat dermatomyositis.

Dermatomyositis is a non-suppurative inflammatory disease that mainly affects striated muscle and is characterized by lymphocytic infiltration, which may or may not be accompanied by various skin lesions. Clinically, it is characterized by symmetrical weakness of the limb girdle muscles, neck muscles and pharyngeal muscles, often involving multiple organs, and may also be accompanied by tumors and other connective tissue diseases.

This disease is a chronic disease with a long course. The effectiveness of treatment depends on the type of disease, treatment plan, and the active cooperation of the patient and family members.

1. Glucocorticoids

Clinical experience has shown that glucocorticoids are effective in treating idiopathic inflammatory myopathies and are therefore considered the drug of choice for treating polymyositis and dermatomyositis. For mild cases, it can be taken orally once in the morning. For severe cases, it is best to take it orally in three doses. Once the condition is under control, it can be changed to a single dose. The general course of treatment is no less than 2 years, and the medication can be stopped at the end. If there is no recurrence for 3 years, the possibility of recurrence in the future is low. If there is no recurrence for 5 years, it can basically be considered cured.

2. Immunosuppressants

Among them, methotrexate and azathioprine are commonly used. For severe cases, early treatment with immunosuppressants combined with glucocorticoids is now recommended.

(1) Methotrexate

Adults, once a week, increase according to patient's condition. After the condition stabilizes, the methotrexate dose can be reduced as appropriate, and low-dose methotrexate can be used for maintenance medication for several months to 1 year. Stopping the medication prematurely may cause relapse. Combination therapy of methotrexate and glucocorticoids

It can significantly improve muscle strength and muscle enzymes, and can also reduce the dosage of hormones, thereby alleviating their side effects. Therefore, early application is generally recommended.

(2) Azathioprine combined with glucocorticoids

The therapeutic effect is significantly better than that of hormone alone, and the dosage of hormone can be reduced. However, the drug takes a long time to take effect, usually after 3 months. The main adverse reactions include bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal reactions and elevated liver enzymes.

(3) Other drugs such as cyclophosphamide, leflunomide, low-dose cyclosporine A, antimalarial drugs, and intravenous immunoglobulin therapy can all play a certain role in refractory dermatomyositis.

Above we introduced what dermatomyositis is. We know that dermatomyositis can not only affect our skin and muscles, but also our kidneys, heart and lungs. Therefore, once we have dermatomyositis, we must actively seek treatment. The above article introduces various treatments for dermatomyositis.