[Myasthenia gravis and visceral lupus erythematosus]

The patient described in this clinical demonstration suffered from severe myasthenia gravis shortly before the detection and for 3 years after surgical removal of a cystic thymoma. At the end of this period, when the myasthenia subsided, she developed systemic lupus erythematosus simultaneously with pleural implantation metastases of the thymoma. After local radiation therapy and under systemic immunosuppression she has remained asymptomatic since the spring of 1978. The pathogenetic and immunogenetic basis of myasthenia gravis and autoimmune diseases associated with thymoma and thymus hyperplasia is reviewed, and a plea is entered for more comprehensive and integrative internal medicine.