Dilated cardiomyopathy and inclusion body myositis

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is the most common inflammatory myopathy after 50 years of age. In contrast to polymyositis and dermatomyositis, in which cardiac involvement is relatively common, current evidences indicate that IBM is not associated with cardiac disease. We report the case of a patient with biopsy-proven IBM who developed heart failure and major ventricular arrhythmias secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy few months after the clinical onset of IBM, and in whom no pathophysiologic causes explaining cardiac enlargement and dysfunction were found by laboratory and instrumental investigations. The hypothesis of a pathophysiologic association between the two conditions is discussed.