Idiopathic inflammatory muscle disease: clinical aspects.

Although much remains to be learned about the immune-mediated myositis syndromes, information generated from recent studies in a number of areas may assist physicians in patient management. Topics reviewed here include: data supporting the association of myositis with cancer and the appropriate evaluations for malignancy in a myositis patient; an approach to the assessment of patients with dermatomyositis sine myositis; the usefulness of the clinicopathological and serological classifications; a discussion of whether childhood and adult myositis are the same or different entities; a review of those prognostic factors to consider in the clinical management of myositis patients; current approaches and their limitations for assessing disease activity and damage. To improve our limited understanding of the myositis syndromes, national and international collaborations are needed to obtain the necessary numbers of subjects, given the rarity and heterogeneity of these disorders.