[Dermatomyositis in children: clinical course of 9 cases]

Eight cases of dermatomyositis and one of polymyositis were studies among five male and four female patients. All had criteria definitive of the disease. All nine patients were give prednisone; six of them responded favorably to treatment and after discontinuing still remain asymptomatic. Three male patients have had a worse response to therapy, two of them deceased and the third still remains symptomatic, but very slowly improving after fourteen months with steroids and cyclophosphamide. These three patients have had chronic cutaneous vasculitic ulcers and this is a sign of bad prognosis. Both deceased patients exhibited important visceral complications (digestive and pulmonary). A more aggressive therapy has been suggested in these forms of worse clinical evolutions, including use of immunosuppressors.