Abstract
Differential diagnosis between statin myotoxicity and inflammatory myositis – case presentation
Highlights
Inflammatory myositis group include polymyositis, dermatomyositis, inclusion body myositis and necrotising myopathy, which typically present with weakness of the arms and legs, pain in the muscles and increased level of serum creatine kinase
We report a case of a 70 year-old patient, treated with statins, presenting muscle weakness, in which electromyography (EMG) features suggested a potential drug-induced myopathy after being correlated with later clinical improvement on no-statin regime
Statin-induced myopathy (SIM) is a general term which refers to all muscle-related adverse events that can be attributed to cholesterol lowering therapy
Summary
Inflammatory myositis group include polymyositis, dermatomyositis, inclusion body myositis and necrotising myopathy, which typically present with weakness of the arms and legs, pain in the muscles and increased level of serum creatine kinase. We report a case of a 70 year-old patient, treated with statins, presenting muscle weakness, in which electromyography (EMG) features suggested a potential drug-induced myopathy after being correlated with later clinical improvement on no-statin regime. No drug linked with myotoxicity could be identified in her present out-patient therapy regime, which included a thiazide-like diuretic drug for hypertension, vitamin D supplement and an occasional topic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent. She did not have similar symptoms in the past and no relevant personal or hereditary disease history. We opted for an EMG in order to determine if the potential statin myotoxicity is expressed through abnormal electrophysiology features
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