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Published on: June 2, 2022
Calcinosis in poly-dermatomyositis: clinical and laboratory predictors and treatment options
Micaela Fredi1, Francesca Bartoli2, Ilaria Cavazzana3
1Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology Unit, Rheumatology Chair, Spedali Civili, Brescia, Italy.
Objectives:
We aimed to identify the possible clinical and laboratory predictors of calcinosis in a cohort of patients with a diagnosis of polymyositis (PM) and dermatomyositis (DM).
Methods:
We carried out a retrospective analysis of a cohort of myositis patients attending our clinic between January 2013 and May 2014.
Results:
74 patients (58 females, 16 males) with PM (30 cases), DM (30 cases), overlap syndrome (13 cases) and inclusion body myositis (1 case) were enrolled. Sixteen patients (21.6%) had calcinosis that occurred a mean of 43.7 months after diagnosis of PDM. At multivariate analysis, patients with calcinosis experienced longer follow-up duration (p=0.006), anti-PM/Scl (p=0.033) and anti-NXP2 (p=0.024) positivity compared to patients without calcinosis. Furthermore, anti-NXP-2 positive C+ showed a diffuse form of calcinosis from the beginning and lower frequency of respiratory tract involvement. No single drug or associations of drugs was found effective in the treatment of calcinosis.
Conclusions:
A longer follow-up period of time, DM diagnosis and positivity for PM/Scl and NXP-2 could all be considered risk factors which foresee the development of calcinosis. Moreover, the positivity for antibodies to NXP-2 depicts a distinct phenotype of calcinosis with an early onset and quick widespread dissemination.
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