[Clinical analysis of familial forms of myasthenia]

Having studied 29 cases of myasthenia observed in 12 families, as well as 578 relatives of 59 patients with myasthenia, the authors have identified clinical characteristics of familial forms of myasthenia and the frequency of familial myasthenia among patient's relatives. It has been shown that familial forms of myasthenia are characterized by the appearance of a number of symptoms that are not typical of the common sporadic forms of myasthenia, which indicates the involvement, in addition to synaptic structures, of distal portions of peripheral nerves and/or muscle fibers. In families of myasthenic patients there is an extremely high rate of collagenoses, allergic diseases, diabetes, thyroid disease and malignant tumors.