Dermatomyositis in the practice of a neurologist of the department of emergency neurology

Dermatomyositis is a disease from the group of diffuse connective tissue diseases mainly affecting the cross-striated and smooth muscles. The leading disorders in the clinical picture of dermatomyositis are movement disorders, which are often regarded to as a manifestation of acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. Also skin lesions in the form of erythema and edema are characteristic, in the absence of these manifestations the term «polymyositis» is used. The disease proceeds with the development of severe neurological symptoms, and is dangerous because of complications which can lead to patient’s death. The article contains a description of cases of two female patients with the initial diagnosis of «Guillain-Barre syndrome». The analysis of the clinical picture, paraclinical studies, features of the disease course in patients was performed, and it enables differential diagnosis between acute/chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and dermatomyositiss at early stages of the disease.