To the Editor We have read with interest the article by Noguchi et al.1 Interestingly, 51 (11.1%) of the 460 Japanese patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies had positive aminoacyl transfer RNA synthetase antibodies. Twenty-four (47%) had distinctive histopathological findings that were characterized by perifascicular necrosis. This feature may help to differentiate patients with antisynthetase syndrome (ASSD) from other clinical entities included within the idiopathic inflammatory myopathy spectrum.1