Baseline Decrement in Patients with Mild Myasthenia Gravis Predicts Immunomodulation Treatment

Alon Abraham1, Leif E Lovblom2, Vera Bril3,4

  • 1Neuromuscular Diseases Unit of the Department of Neurology, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

To explore whether higher degrees of electrophysiological abnormalities are associated with a more frequent exposure to a more aggressive treatment regimen, we performed a retrospective chart review of patients attending the neuromuscular clinic from June 2012 to December 2015 and included 87 patients. We compared treatment regimens during the follow-up period between patients with high and low jitter and decrement. Myasthenia gravis patients with high jitter or decrement at baseline were more frequently treated with intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) and/or plasma exchange (PLEX) during the follow-up period. In patients with mild disease, IVIG or PLEX treatment was associated with high decrement.

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