[Sclerodermatomyositis. Apropos of 13 cases].

13 cases of sclero (dermato)myositis are reported with cutaneous signs specific of dermatomyositis in 6 cases. Scleroderma was rather benign, without any visceral involvement. In contrast, myositis was much more severe that usually encountered in systemic sclerosis, threatening the vital prognosis and requiring aggressive therapeutic measures to be controlled. In 6 cases, the axial musculature was involved. Occurrence of each component was not simultaneous. No case was paraneoplastic. Antinuclear antibodies were present in all cases. Antibodies against soluble nuclear antigens, specifically found by others in sclerodermatomyositis, were absent. The very peculiar clinical spectrum of this syndrome associated with immunologic abnormalities, elsewhere described, confirm the individualization of sclerodermatomyositis.