[Juvenile dermatomyositis: diagnosis and treatment].

Juvenile dermatomyositis is a rare inflammatory myopathy with characteristic skin manifestations and muscular weakness. Muscle biopsy is important for establishing the diagnosis. Four patients with juvenile dermatomyositis were studied retrospectively. Steroids remain the first line treatment. Corticosteroids resistance is the primary indication for the use of intravenous immunoglobulins or immunosuppressive drugs. Further studies are necessarily aimed at finding biological markers to select and guide new therapeutical approaches for those patients.