Treatment of inflammatory myopathy with intravenous gamma globulin.

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) is a new modality used to help treat conditions associated with immune dysregulation. The inflammatory myopathies are a group of complex diseases including dermatomyositis, polymyositis, and inclusion-body myositis. Overall evaluation of IVIg in myopathy has been hampered by difficulty in accurately diagnosing and assessing disease activity. The lack of large, well controlled, double-blind trials has precluded clear evaluation of the effectiveness of IVIg in these diseases. However, from the data presented in published reports, it appears that IVIg may be useful in the treatment of inflammatory myopathies, particularly dermatomyositis.