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BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
Published in: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 1/2012

Open Access 01-12-2012 | Research article

Coadministration of tacrolimus with corticosteroid accelerates recovery in refractory patients with polymyositis/ dermatomyositis: a retrospective study

Authors: Yasuhiro Shimojima, Wataru Ishii, Masayuki Matsuda, Ko-ichi Tazawa, Shu-ichi Ikeda

Published in: BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders | Issue 1/2012

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Abstract

Background

To investigate whether or not coadministration of tacrolimus (TAC) with prednisolone (PSL) can produce a beneficial effect in the treatment of polymyositis/ dermatomyositis (PM/DM).

Methods

We reviewed medical records of 32 PM/DM patients who had been admitted to our hospital, and abstracted those who had received TAC in addition to oral PSL for treatment. The clinical usefulness of TAC in PM/DM was objectively evaluated focusing upon the manual muscle strength test (MMT) score, serum creatine kinase (CK) and tapering of PSL.

Results

Nine patients with PM and 6 with DM were enrolled in this study. TAC was added because of difficulty in reduction of PSL in 12 patients and recurrence with corticosteroid-induced complications in the remaining 3. Both PM and DM patients showed significant increases in the MMT score and significant decreases in serum CK 1 to 3 months after starting TAC compared with before. Skin symptoms in a clinically amyopathic DM patient also improved 1 month after starting TAC. The daily dosage of PSL could be significantly reduced in both PM and DM after starting TAC compared with before. No serious adverse events ascribable to TAC occurred in any patients.

Conclusion

Additional use of TAC with PSL may safely promote improvement of PM/DM and also accelerate tapering of the latter.
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Metadata
Title
Coadministration of tacrolimus with corticosteroid accelerates recovery in refractory patients with polymyositis/ dermatomyositis: a retrospective study
Authors
Yasuhiro Shimojima
Wataru Ishii
Masayuki Matsuda
Ko-ichi Tazawa
Shu-ichi Ikeda
Publication date
01-12-2012
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders / Issue 1/2012
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2474
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2474-13-228

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