A 49-year-old lady with no past medical history presented with dysphagia and 40-pound weight loss, which occurred over eight months. On physical examination, she had proximal muscle weakness and crackles in basilar regions of the lungs. Labs were significant for low albumin, elevated transaminases, and high aldolase. Imaging suggested aspiration pneumonitis in both lungs and hepatic steatosis. A swallow evaluation revealed oropharyngeal dysphagia and muscle biopsy confirmed a rare form of myositis. A liver biopsy showed steatohepatitis and a diagnosis of starvation-induced steatohepatitis was made. The patient succumbed to hypoxic respiratory failure from aspiration pneumonitis before the treatment for myositis could be initiated. We report the first case of starvation-induced steatohepatitis in a patient with dysphagia from myositis affecting the oropharyngeal musculature.
Keywords: myositis; non alcoholic steatohepatitis.