title: [Clinical and evolutionary aspects of polymyosite in internal medicine].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Polymyositis is a chronic inflammatory disease possibly responsable of various systemic manifestations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Reported is a retrospective done on polymyositis i n internal medecine department in patients from march 1997 to april 2002.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eleven cases were collected from a total of 6739 admissions giving a prevalence of 0.16%. Sex ratio was 1.2(F/H) with a mean age of 33 years. The most frequent clinical presentation was the muscle signs. It was dominated by the functionnal disability (90.9%), myalgia (81.8%) and dysphagia (36.3%). Systemic manifestations of polymyositis interested articulary, bronchopulmonary, cardiac and neurological areas. Association of polymyositis and other sytemic disease has been found in one patient, who presented also a rhumatoid arthritis. First step treatment was corticotherapy for all patients. Immunosuppressor with azathioprine have been introduced in 2 patients who presented an associated interstitial nulmonary disease. On this treatment we observed 4 cases of total remission, 3 cases of partial remission, 2 death occured and 2 patients have been lost from clinical follow up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The long term follow of these chronic disease is a major problem in developping countries. Most of the patients live far from hospital centers and don't have possibility to do complementary exams so as to buy regulary the drugs.
authors.affiliation: Clinique médicale I-Hôpital Aristide Le Dantec.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ndongo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pouye
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ka
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leye
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ndiaye
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Diop
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D017285:Polymyositis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies