Myasthenia gravis--current concepts

An edited summary of an Interdepartmental Conference arranged by the Department of Medicine of the UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles. The Director of Conferences is William M. Pardridge, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine. Current findings indicate that autoimmune myasthenia gravis is an acquired immune complex disorder of neuromuscular transmission in voluntary striated muscle. There is a break in immunologic tolerance leading to blocking and degradation of acetylcholine receptors, together with widening of the synaptic cleft associated with partial destruction, simplification and shortening of the postjunctional membrane. Thymic hyperplasia and thymoma may be present. A decremental response to nerve-muscle stimulation, blocking and jitter on single-fiber electromyography and circulating antibodies to acetylcholine receptor are detectable in most patients with generalized weakness. Although the cause of this abnormal immunologic mechanism remains to be discovered, anticholinesterases, corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, plasmapheresis or thymectomy (individually or in combination) provide control and better prognosis in most patients.