Successful treatment of antisynthetase syndrome presenting as rhabdomyolysis with rituximab

Rhabdomyolysis is a syndrome of muscle necrosis with subsequent release of intracellular content into the blood. There are various causes for rhabdomyolysis that include trauma, medications and rarely autoimmune conditions such as autoimmune myositis. Antisynthetase syndrome is an autoimmune condition characterized by positive antisynthetase antibody, myopathy, lung disease and arthritis. To our knowledge, rhabdomyolysis in antisynthetase syndrome has not been reported in the literature. In this report, we present a patient who presented with features of rhabdomyolysis and was diagnosed with antisynthetase syndrome. This patient was treated with systemic steroids with partial improvement, followed by rituximab, which led to significant improvement in his condition. In addition, we summarize all cases reported in the literature of inflammatory myopathy-associated rhabdomyolysis.