Relapsing polymyositis in chronic graft versus host disease.

Chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD) is a major complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, which contributes to the morbidity and mortality of transplant patients. A polymyositis pattern of injury is a rare manifestation of chronic GVHD in skeletal muscle after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. We report a 54-year-old man with acute myeloid lymphoma who underwent an allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and subsequently developed acute gastrointestinal GVHD 2 months post-transplantation and polymyositis 14 months post-transplantation. Upon tapering of steroids, the patient experienced a relapse of polymyositis. The literature on polymyositis in chronic GVHD is briefly reviewed.