What Is Polymyositis?
7. Diagnosis
Diagnosis of the condition is not easy and it will often be some time before doctors can be confident enough to conclude. One of the first things that doctors are likely to do is to ask you about your medical history, and whether there is a history of related medical conditions in the family.
A muscle biopsy is often performed to evaluate the muscle tissue on the microscope, and an MRI scan is also useful to assess muscle involvement, guide biopsy, and to identify extra muscular disease. Also, electromyography (EMG) is often performed to measure the electrical activity occurring in the muscles. Also, blood tests will be used to assess muscle enzyme levels (i.e. serum creatinine kinase), and to verify the presence of abnormal autoantibodies in the blood.
Advertisement
