A case of polymyositis associated with hepatitis B infection

This report describes the case of a 47-year old man who developed myositis in association with hepatitis B surface antigen-positive hepatitis. Interes tingly, the myositis repeatedly worsened 2 months after the exacerbation of hepatitis in this case, suggesting a close association between hepatitis B infection and myositis. The dose of prednisolone was increased twice in or der to treat the exacerbating myositis, resulting in improvement of the mus cle symptoms, but the patient eventually died of liver failure. Only 5 othe r myositis patients with hepatitis B antigenemia have been reported in the literature. We review these cases of the association between hepatitis B in fection and myositis.