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Pathology

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Dermatomyositis and polymyositis are ischaemic myopathies resulting from capillary obliteration and consequent muscle infarction.

Muscle biopsy shows an inflammatory cell infiltrate:

  • in dermatomyositis these cells are predominantly B lymphocytes with some T-helper lymphocytes - suggesting a humoral autoimmune mechanism

  • in polymyositis the cells are mainly cytotoxic T cells - suggesting a cell-mediated autoimmune mechanism

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