Figure 3.

Clinical course of this case. The patient suffered from myositis predominantly in the proximal muscles from childhood to 47 years of age. The myositis improved with increasing doses of prednisolone (PSL) but relapsed many times due to decreased dose of PSL despite the combined use of immunosuppressive drugs. At the age of 48, pain and swelling of the hands and lower legs appeared. These symptoms and creatine kinase (CK) levels improved with repeated intravenous immunoglobulin therapy (IVIg). CK: creatine kinase, IVIg: intravenous immunoglobulin treatment, PSL: prednisolone