Distal-symmetric focal inflammatory myopathy distinct from focal myositis and polymyositis.

[focal myositis]

We describe an inflammatory myopathy that was symmetrically restricted to both gastrocnemius muscles in a young man . Histopathological findings were typical for polymyositis , but there were neither signs of generalization nor muscle weakness and wasting . This condition was highly sensitive to steroids and has been kept in remission for more than a year using azathioprine . Our findings add another entity to the spectrum of spatially restricted inflammatory myopathies . Muscle Nerve 40 : 309 -312 , 2009 .