The history of the development of knowledge of myasthenia gravis is reviewed. Clinical profiles of the immune and non-immune mediated forms of myasthenia are discussed. The current theory of pathogenesis is reviewed. Tests used to diagnose myasthenia gravis, and their comparative diagnostic yields are presented. Past and current modalities of treatment are reviewed. Future therapeutic stra...

Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disorder caused by autoantibodies against the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor on the postsynaptic membrane at the neuromuscular junction and characterised by weakness and fatigability of the voluntary muscles. It has a bimodal peak of incidence with first peak in the third decade and the second peak in the sixth decade. It is probably underdiagnosed in the ve...

BACKGROUND Myasthenia gravis is a disorder of neuromuscular transmission associated with autoantibodies against the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. We have previously developed a customized protein macroarray comprising 1827 potential human autoantigens, which permitted to discriminate sera of patients with different cancers from sera of healthy controls, but has not yet been evaluated in ant...

BACKGROUND Generalized myasthenia gravis will develop in more than 50% of patients who present with ocular myasthenia gravis, typically within 2 years. The optimal treatment of ocular myasthenia gravis, including the use of corticosteroids, remains controversial. In addition, the prevalence of thymoma and the optimal performance of the edrophonium chloride test for ocular myasthenia remain unkn...

Aim: Myasthenia is a rare paediatric disease. Traditionally, the Tensilon test, neurophysiological (NP) studies and serology have been used in its diagnosis. This first study in children was to clarify the role and safety of the Tensilon test in the initial diagnoses of myasthenia when compared with, and in association with NP studies such as stimulated single fibre EMG (sSFEMG) and repetitive ...

OBJECTIVE Ocular myasthenia gravis is a subtype of myasthenia gravis that causes relatively mild disability, but may convert into severe generalised muscle weakness. A universal management plan for ocular myasthenia gravis has not been established. This study was performed to determine the outcome of ocular myasthenia gravis with the currently available therapeutic options. METHODS Retrospect...

objectives after the introduction of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (vats) thymectomy, there has been increased interest in the use of this technique for myasthenia gravis. we conducted a retrospective study to assess the safety and efficacy of vats thymectomy in treatment of myasthenia gravis. patients and methods the medical records of 50 patients who underwent vats thymectomy for the t...

Both myasthenia gravis and traumatic spinal cord injury are uncommon disorders and their concurrence is extremely rare. We report here the case of a man with stable myasthenia gravis with spinal cord injury due to a motor vehicle accident. His muscle strength and sensory function in all 4 limbs partially recovered during the initial hospitalization. However, after a later episode of pneumonia a...

There were investigated 15 cases with normal thymus removed during cardiac surgery and nine cases with clinical signs of myasthenia gravis. Four patients with myasthenia gravis had thymoma (three invasive, one non-invasive). Specimens were fixed in buffer formalin, embedded in paraffin and slides were stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin and Alcian blue-Safranin. Additional slides were stained for fa...